The Game
by Nevermorexxx
Summary: Two players, One girl. The players compete for the heart of the girl. Whoever beds her first, wins. The problem: She hates everyone. The other problem: She has two extremely overprotective brothers. The biggest problem: She's not exactly human. (Highschool AU)
1. The Players

**The Players**

" _Let's play a game"_

* * *

"Aria! We're going to be late! Get down here!"

"We're already late, Claude. School started nearly 10 minutes ago."

"What? My watch says it's only 7:30."

"Yes, and every other clock in the house has a different time."

"What? Did you… Why would you take the time to change every single clock in the house? You wanted to be late didn't you, Sebastian?!"

"I like being fashionably late. Irritating you by doing that is just a plus."

"Sebastian!"

"Claude!"

"Will the both of you shut the hell up? It's too early for this." I groaned, walking down the spiraling staircase.

"Well look who decided to finally grace us with her presence." Sebastian smiled, bowing sarcastically.

"Did you just wake up?" Claude asked, frowning.

I glared at him.

"Aria, it's the first day of school. " He chastised.

"Is that supposed to mean something?"

"Yes. It means that you should at least change into actual clothes and brush your hair."

"Why should I? It'd just give people the wrong idea."

"Aria." He snapped.

"Claude." I snapped back.

"Sebastian!" We both turned to the offending noise, disapproving glares on our faces. Sebastian was smiling carelessly as usual.

He shrugged at our glares.

"I felt left out. Anyways, Aria, you can at least brush your hair."

"I did brush my hair." They both looked at my hair doubtfully.

"It's in a bun." I defended.

"I tried, Claude..." Sebastian said laughing, holding his hands up in mock-surrender. Claude pushed his glasses up on his nose and huffed.

"Let's just go before we miss all of first period. Sebastian you're going to fix all of these clocks when we get back."

"No, I'm not." He retorted childishly.

"Do you wish to die before we even get to school?" Claude deadpanned.

"You're both _so_ touchy in the mornings." Sebastian commented, walking to the front door.

Claude and I followed suit.

I honestly didn't understand why they made such a fuss about my appearance. I _did_ brush my hair. With my fingers. And I changed out of my pajama pants and put on my favorite black jeans. I was still wearing the faded band t-shirt I slept in, but so what? I'd even bothered to put on a bit of eyeliner. That's as put together as I possibly could be before noon.

...

Apparently, Sebastian had lied about changing the time on every clock, evident by the fact that students were still loitering outside the school talking animatedly. It was all some elaborate plan he had put too much effort into just to irritate Claude. His efforts went unappreciated as I didn't find it that funny and Claude gave him a half-hearted lecture.

Dread settled deep within my stomach as I saw the amount of girls waiting in the parking lot. Some held signs with my brothers names on them others aimed for a different kind of attention wearing clothes that clearly violated the dress code.

My brothers were... _popular_ … to say the least. Girls constantly threw themselves at them. Personally, I didn't see what all the fuss was about. They were both idiots.

And as for myself- I tried to go as unnoticed as possible. I wasn't one for attention; which might come as a surprise knowing my brothers. I hated when people stared at me and tripped over themselves for my attention. I preferred to keep my distance and hoped others would do the same.

Claude's recently purchased BMW was apparently a dead giveaway to the girls waiting for us, as they started cheering and screaming as soon as Claude turned into the parking lot.

Girls swarmed the car as soon as it was parked. Claude got out immediately, worried that the girls might damage the car if he stayed in it. Sebastian sent a wink my way before he got out of the car as well. He knew how uncomfortable this whole situation made me.

I sighed and grabbed my tote bag before stepping out of the car.

You would think my brothers were celebrities, they were signing so many autographs. Well Sebastian was. Claude was busy loading gifts into the car. I was surprised he didn't just dump them all in the dumpster.

"Sebby!" A shrill voice. A flash of red. I groaned. _Loudly_. It went unheard under the noise of the crowd.

Grell Sutcliffe was loud in every sense of the word. He wore red like it was the only color that existed, yet at the same time he wore the school uniform, which was not actually enforced, under a deep red coat. His long hair was dyed a red not found in nature, and red glasses sat above his impossibly yellow-green eyes which just had to be contacts. In short, I couldn't stand the sight of him and neither could Sebastian.

"Sebby!" He was clawing through the crowd of girls, pushing them out of his way to get closer.

 _Did I mention that Grell Sutcliffe was in love with Sebastian?_

Sebastian scowled momentarily then plastered on a grin.

"And that's my cue to leave." He turned to me and planted a sloppy kiss on my forehead.

"See you later, Aria! Have a good day at school! Ooh, Claude! Queen Bitch at 3 o'clock!" I glared at him as he sprinted away and wiped his slobber from my face.

"Claude." An icy voice stated behind me. I turned and saw Alexandrina Victoria, commonly known as Victoria, walk up to my brother. The crowd of girls had parted for her and the crowd had gone completely silent. Victoria was the queen of the school. Cross her and she would ruin your life, your parents life, your children's _and_ your grandchildren's lives. Her white-blonde hair shined in the light, her pale skin was flawless and her icy blue eyes screamed power.

For some _absurd_ reason Victoria thought that I told Claude not to date her because I didn't like her, as _if_ he would listen to me. So, naturally, she hated me. Among other reasons I'm sure. Not that she would always show it. Most of the time she would completely ignore my existence. Like now, for example.

"Victoria." Claude said back just as icily, turning to face her. Victoria had the best grades in the school and the money to back it. She was probably accepted into Yale and Harvard in kindergarten. Though he would never admit it, Claude resented her for being on the same level if not higher than him. Their relationship was… complicated… to say the least.

Victoria had a permanent scowl to her beautiful face but a smile teased her mouth as she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his. Soon they were making out in front of an entire crowd without a care in the world and it disgusted me twice as much as it irritated me so I turned on my heel and walked into the school building. My locker was in the same place it was last year so I went to go put my books away before first period started.

"Hannah, shut the fuck up. I didn't ask for your opinion."

"Alois, do you have to talk to her like that?"

"Yes, I do. Hannah doesn't care anyways. Isn't that right Hannah?"

"Anyways, back to what I was saying. Ciel, you _have_ to come with us to the Back to School party next Saturday. I'll drag you there if I have to."

A group of idiots were talking and the blonde one was leaning against my locker.

 _Great_ , I sighed, _confrontation._

I walked up to them.

"I _don't_ _care_ that Sebastian and Claude are going. I'm _not_ gay, Alois, I don't think they're all that attractive."

There were 4 of them. A blonde girl, a blonde boy, a boy whose hair was obviously dyed a blackish-blue, and a girl with hair dyed grey. I think I've seen some of them before but I don't pay enough attention to learn anyone's names.

"Not attractive?!" The blonde cried, incredulously.

"You're talking about the very _sex gods_ that _bless_ us with their presence every day! And ugh, _Claude_ , the things that man could do with those fingers and I bet he's got the _biggest_ -"

"Excuse me." I interrupted, not wanting to hear speculation on my brother's penis size. I'd already heard it too many times before.

The blonde and his friends looked over to me in mild interest but their eyes widened as they realized who I was.

"You're leaning on my locker." I said, pointing to the black locker behind the blonde.

He looked both flustered and confused and had to look behind him to see what I was talking about.

"Oh! Oh...um- yeah...sorry." He stuttered, his face turning crimson.

"Let's- um- let's go find where Mey-rin and the others are." He said to his friends and they quickly walked away.

I began to put in my combination to my locker. I could still hear their loud whispering conversation as they walked down the hall.

" _Alois! Oh my god! That was Claude's little sister!"_

" _Don't you think I know that, Elizabeth!?"_

" _Oh my god! I bet she heard you what you said about Claude!"_

" _Ow! Why the fuck did you hit me?! It's not my fault! I didn't know she was standing there!"_

"The point is that you shouldn't have been talking about something so indecent in the first place _."_

" _Oh shut it, Ciel!"_

I sighed, placing my books in my locker. It was times like this where I hated my inhuman hearing.

I shut the locker and looked for my class schedule in my tote bag. My fingers brushed against a crumpled piece of paper and I pulled it out, attempting to straighten it enough to read.

I groaned loudly when I realized that not only did I have math first period but also the strictest teacher in the entire school. Mr. Spears. I heard that last year he gave a kid a suspension for breathing too noisily.

A hand suddenly rested against the locker above mine and I felt the warmth of another body far too close to mine. I knew who it was just by the smell of his expensive cologne. _Amazing start to my day_ , I thought bitterly.

"Why hello there, my loveliest dove." I rolled my eyes and ducked under his arm, heading towards my classroom, though I'd already forgotten which room it was. My direction didn't really matter as long as I got away from him.

"My dearest robin, I don't know why you always insist that I chase after you. I know that you enjoy playing hard to get with me but your behavior's a little _childish,_ don't you agree?"

 _Incessant, mind numbing, ignorant, idiotic, self righteous, arrogant…_ I chanted all of the words that could describe him angrily.

My strategy of looking as plain as possible sadly did not work on everyone. Some saw straight through my guise. It was almost as if they were even more enthralled with me than if I had been trying to get their attention. It was the exact behavior I hated and wanted to avoid. One case in particular was the boy following me through the halls right now. Star cross country runner and second in school hierarchy only to Victoria and Claude: Aleistor Chamber. He was in short an arrogant _asshole_.

He had convinced himself the moment that he saw me that _I_ was in love with _him_ instead of the other way around.

"My prettiest bird, you've dropped something. Your schedule?" My eyes widened in panic and shock as I realized my schedule was no longer in my hand. Now he would know every single class I had and when. _Great._

I stopped walking, defeated, and turned to face him, my arms crossed over my chest as I scowled at him.

"We don't seem to have any classes together. I'll have to change that. I wouldn't want my darling raven to be all by her lonesome."

Looking at him he didn't seem at all the type to be into sports. I had always assumed it was something his parents wanted him to do, not that I care enough to actually ask. He came to school in cashmere cardigans over pressed shirts as if he were a walking contradiction. What jock wore cardigans and dress shoes every single day?

"How many times have I told you that I am not your _'bird_ ' Aleistor? Or your dove or raven or whatever else you want to call me. Seriously, I want you to count." I snapped. To his credit it wasn't as if he was bad looking. His shoulder length blonde hair and cerulean eyes were working to his advantage, but he was repulsive. He constantly called me horrid pet names and I knew for a fact that he used to dote on Victoria like this before Claude came into the picture. Once, when I let my guard down around him he licked inside my ear and the sensation and _sound_ nearly made me vomit.

"Ah, you're beautiful face. How I've missed it so! Why didn't you come see me over the summer? I'm sure you missed me." And once again he's completely ignoring the words coming out of my mouth. People paid us no mind as they walked around us, though we were standing in the middle of the hallway. I began to wish one of his track buddies would come over and take him away from me.

We stood in silence for long minutes, since I refused to answer him, until the bell announcing the start of school rang. Aleistor immediately placed his arm around my shoulder, turning me around and pushing me along with him.

"Since we have no classes together I'll be a proper gentleman and walk you to your classroom." I sighed heavily, once again admitting defeat as I was tired of fighting him. Actually I was tired in general, too bad I couldn't get away with sleeping in Mr. Spears class.

Aleistor walked me to my classroom, which I was silently _slightly_ grateful for.

"Be sure to tell your dearest brothers hello for me. I'll see you later, my ravishing robin." He smirked at me before walking down the hallway off to his own class.

I rolled my eyes and walked into class, just before the late bell rung. Aleistor _hated_ my brothers. He's never said why exactly, but I imagine it has to do with Claude stealing Victoria from him and Sebastian becoming far more popular than he's ever been.

Mr. Spears was worse than the rumors. He ridiculed me for my lazy appearance as soon as I walked into class. And as he lectured the class about how tardiness for any reason was unacceptable, a kid walked into the class. The same blonde that was leaning against my locker.

Getting the chance to see him again, I noticed what he was wearing for the first time. He had on purple coat over a green button-up and black shorts shorter than I've ever seen any boy wear. On top of that he was wearing extremely tall socks that might have been some type of stockings that peeked over his knee high combat boots. His whole outfit was bizarre but oddly seemed to not look that strange on him. To top the look off his blonde hair hung low on his face and hints of metal appeared on his lip and ears.

"Sorry I'm late, teach'." He said, flippantly tossing a crumpled pink TARDY pass onto Mr. Spears desk. A few kids in the room giggled.

Mr. Spears, however, was not laughing. He slowly adjusted his glasses on his face with the tip of his pen and exhaled a breath.

The blonde had begun to walk towards an empty seat in the front of the class.

"Stop." The kid stopped and lazily turned around to face Mr. Spears.

"You will not enter my classroom like that. If you were here on time you would know that tardiness is not permitted in my class. So take this _trash_ off of my desk and leave before I decide to take unnecessary time out of my life and suspend you, Mr... _Trancy_." Tension in the room rose as the kid stared Mr. Spears down and vice versa in complete silence. After about a full minute of tense staring the kid sighed loudly and walked out of the classroom, slamming the door closed behind him.

Mr. Spears narrowed his eyes at the sound and flicked the late pass off of his desk with a ruler.

Then, he immediately went back to his lecture.

...

Alois stomped his way into the cafeteria. The first day of school, the first period of the day and he'd already been threatened with suspension? It was a new record for him though he wasn't sure if he was happy or upset about it. Besides… he wasn't sure… but he thought that he had seen Aria Tamburlaine in that class. God damn Mr. Spears. Alois sighed in frustration. This year was going to be Hell if he couldn't switch out of that class. His other classes had gone fine but he felt extreme relief in the fact that it was finally lunchtime.

He moved on autopilot to the lunch table him and his friends had taken ownership of. There was little space on the bench for him and irritation flared up.

"Ciel." He snapped. The aforementioned Phantomhive looked up wearily at the sound of a familiar voice, interrupting his conversation with Soma. Ciel opened his mouth to speak but Alois cut him off abruptly-

"Move over or I'm gonna sit in your lap." Ciel rolled his eyes but moved over until there was enough space for the blonde to sit.

Their group was a moderate size. There were 12 of them in total counting Alois. Ciel, Elizabeth, Soma, Finnian, Bardroy, Mey-rin, Agni, Hannah and her groupies Thompson, Timber, and Canterbury.

"Someone's in a bad mood." Ciel commented sourly.

"He's always in a bad mood." Elizabeth cut, looking at the blonde in disapproval.

"Shut up." Alois snapped back, running a hand tiredly through his hair.

"What happened, Alois?" Soma asked with genuine curiosity.

"I got stuck with Spears first period. He kicked me out as soon as I walked in."

"I tried tellin' you but you wouldn't to listen to me." Bardroy huffed, tipping his chair backward and resting his feet on the table. "That asshole hates it when people are late."

"You want a smoke?" Meyrin offered holding out something that looked like a cigarette. Alois eyed it in interest.

"I thought Pluto wasn't supposed to deliver until the end of the week." He reached out excitedly to take it from her. A hand suddenly swiped it away from his grasp.

Alois' eyes followed to hand back to the owner, frowning deeply when he saw who it was.

"What the fuck Hannah?!" Unwavering blue eyes stared back at him.

"Ugh! Seriously?! I told you to stop trying to control me you fucking bitch!" Timber, Canterbury and Thompson glared at him. He glared back and his mood soured further. Suddenly, a flash of black passed the corner of his eye. He looked up.

Aria was walking past their table with some tom-boyish looking girl talking animatedly to her. _Odd,_ he thought, he didn't think that she ever went into the cafeteria and he'd never seen her walking with anyone other than her brothers or Aleistor Chamber.

He stared far longer than necessary and his friends soon followed his gaze.

"I still can't believe you said that about Claude right in front of her." Elizabeth commented snidely. Alois didn't bother responding to her. As soon as they'd met up with everyone she had immediately told everyone what exactly he had done and in great detail how bad it was and how terrible of a person he was.

"She's kind of hot…" He muttered absentmindedly. Her facial features were soft but striking at the same time, her hair was blacker than any black he'd ever seen and he had to suspect that it had been dyed (though her brothers shared the same trait), her eyes were lighter than blue and almost silver in the way they sparkled. At first glance she was at most pretty, but once he had taken a moment to actually look at her there was an unearthly beauty about her that seemed to be slipping through the mediocrity.

"Well, what do you expect? She's related to _those_ guys." Bardroy quipped, rocking his chair back and forth.

"Are they actually related? They all have different last names." Finny questioned, launching the majority of the group into an argument.

Alois was turning around, suddenly aware that he had been staring for quite some time, when he noticed Ciel. He was staring at Aria as if in a trance. A sinister smirk appeared on Alois's face. A brilliant idea had just come to his sadistic mind.

"Ciel you sure are staring pretty hard over there." He said airily, as if he was commenting on the weather. Ciel snapped out of his trance and focused his attention on the blonde.

"See something you like?" Alois asked grinning smugly. Ciel's pale cheeks heated to a light red.

"Alois, stop bothering Ciel." Elizabeth cut in, before Ciel could answer. Alois, expecting her to say something, continued to stare Ciel down.

Ciel glanced at Elizabeth and she continued, an inch of hysteria lining her voice.

"Of course he wouldn't like _her._ She's nothing like me." The other people at their table were fully immersed in the controversial topic Finny had introduced and paid the three no mind. Elizabeth, still receiving silence as an answer, frowned.

" **Right** , Ciel?"

"Why don't you go over there and talk to her? If you don't, I will." Alois challenged, completely ignoring Elizabeth. Ciel frowned at him.

"Because you made _such_ a great impression with her this morning." He scoffed. Alois smirked.

"At least she knows who I am. I can't say the same for you."

"I don't even want to talk to her." Ciel said unconvincingly. Alois lifted an eyebrow skeptically.

"See? I told you-" Elizabeth started only to be interrupted again.

"I've got a brilliant idea, Ciel." Alois announced finally. Ciel immediately looked wearily at him.

"Don't give me that look. So… let's make this year interesting. _Let's play a game._ "

* * *

 ** _*As a side note the name "Alexandrina" comes from the Queen Kuroshitsuji is actually speaking of (I think)*_**

 **SO? How was it? I've been working on this story for the past year writing and rewriting and I've rewritten this chapter so many times! I think it's finally ready to be viewed by the public. I have a few more chapters that I deemed acceptable and just as many that are in progress. I'm quite bad at finishing my stories so it's really going to be up to your support! FOLLOW it if you're interested to let me KNOW that you are and maybe I'll be updating again within the month- we'll have to see.**

 **I know it's kind of strange that Claude and Sebastian are students as they are usually teachers or professors in most stories concerning school/university. But hey! How dare you disrespect Sebastian like that by doubting his abilities! He can act out a high school boy better than you can! Also, as you can probably guess Ciel and Alois are about 15/16 in this story and their friends are of varying grade levels. And in reference to the summary although you all already know Aria isn't human I certainly won't be telling what she is anytime soon! You'll have to join me in this adventure to find out!**

 **Until next time!**


	2. How to Play

**HOW TO PLAY**

" _So, here are the rules."_

* * *

I was so _bored._

My art teacher had some sort of medical emergency this morning therefore we had a substitute teacher for an _art_ class. As if that wasn't bad enough the substitute wasn't _actually_ a substitute. He was a teacher in training and therefore _not_ qualified to babysit a bunch of juniors in an art class. _Ronald,_ I was not going to call him Mr. Knox, had given up on trying to keep the class tamed and was writing some kind of essay- probably for the college class he was most likely failing.

I just wanted to draw.

 _Ronald_ apparently didn't know where any of the art supplies were in the _art room_ so I couldn't use the charcoal to draw. It was the only thing I ever used. I refused to draw with anything else. So I had nothing to do and I was trying my hardest to block out the chatter of the class. I cursed myself for the hundredth time for leaving my earbuds at home and let out another sigh. Only 17 more minutes until lunch.

I constantly felt eyes on me, as I usually did, but right now they were especially annoying. Were they as bored as I was or did they really have nothing better to do than stare at me? I cast a curious glance in the direction I felt the stare coming from.

Brilliant blue eyes, hair dyed navy blue, crisp school uniform. It one of those idiots standing near my locker earlier. We met eyes. He seemed to study my face in mild curiosity before turning silently to face the window.

Strange.

He seemed to breathe formality and indifference. But the thing that bothered me was there was something about him that reminded me of my brothers. Something… _off_. Almost as if he was above everyone else while simultaneously below everyone. I found myself growing more intrigued but resisted the urge to continue staring.

With a slight frown I returned my attention to the spot on the wall I was staring at before.

But a figure was blocking my view.

"Hi!" I groaned out loud, not even trying to hide my displeasure. However, whoever it was paid it no mind.

"People call me Freckles! Nice to meet you!" I lazily, looked upward. A girl with shortly cut, brown hair stood in front of me. She was smiling brightly and evident of her name many small freckles spotted her face. I eyed her wearily. I could feel the stares of many in the room when people noticed that she was talking to me. I glanced over my shoulder to discourage them.

"Oh! No need to introduce yourself, I know who you are! It's my first day here and all I've heard anyone talk about is Sebastian Michaelis, Claude Faustus and _you_ of course, Aria Tamburlaine. People were saying that you weren't at all like your brothers except for the fact that you look like them. And people said that you were quiet and didn't really talk to anyone and you can never really take anyone's word for things like that… Oh gosh I'm rambling. So anyways I saw that you were in this class and I wanted to come over and say hello! So… Hello!" I blinked. I'd never had so many words thrown at me in such a short time.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" The girl- Freckles- asked, already sitting down next to me. If everyone in classroom wasn't already staring at us they certainly were now. My irritation level rose.

"So, where are you from? Oh that's a stupid question; you're probably from here right? I just moved here from Michigan. Washington is so pretty! And this school is so big! I got lost trying to get to the building from the parking lot, but I think that was because there were so many people out there. Were your brothers there or something? That would make sense. I didn't see them though."

"Stop."

"I really want to see what the fuss is all about. I wonder if they really are what everyone says about them. Ah, not that anyone says anything bad about them. Oh that reminds me- why do you all have different last names if you're related? I think that's kinda-"

" _Stop._ " The girl stopped finally, and looked at me in surprise.

"Stop talking to me. I don't _care_ who you are or where you're from. Those rumors you heard about me were right. I _don't_ talk to anyone and I am not going to start now. So get up from the seat that I _mind_ you sitting in, go back to your own desk and leave me alone." The stares from the classroom were making my skin crawl. I got up without a second glance at the girl and walked out of the classroom. I figured the lunch bell would ring soon so I'd kill time by walking around. Sure enough the familiar bell rang through the hallway minutes later.

Normally, I would drive home for the lunch break as the cafeteria noise was much too loud and I hated the lingering stares I would get whenever I went in there. However, I've realized that I am really not the best driver over the summer. I hit a pole and bent my car around it. It was too close of a call so I definitely wasn't going to be getting another soon. Plus there was absolutely _no wa_ y that Claude was going to give me the keys to his new BMW. So I had no choice but to head to the cafeteria.

As I was walking I remembered that Aleistor was probably waiting for me outside of my Art class like he had been waiting for me after every period today. I had begun to really regret the fact that he had seen my schedule but at least I managed to avoid him for now.

"Hi!" I blinked in surprise and took a step backwards. The same brown haired girl from earlier was standing in front of me, grinning toothily. I narrowed my eyes in annoyance.

"Didn't I say to leave me alone?" I snapped, moving to walk around her. To my extreme displeasure she began to eagerly walk beside me.

"Yeah, you did." I glared at her from the corner of my eye.

"So why are you still bothering me?" She sighed deeply.

"You're the only person that actually talks to me. All everyone else talks about is you and your brothers. Everyone is obsessed with you guys and don't take this the wrong way but I don't want to keep hearing about you all. Like you're super pretty and I'm sure your brothers are hot but I still don't understand what the big deal is."

 _What? Someone that didn't want to obsess over us?Suspicious..._

I gave her a sidelong glance and she looked extremely bashful.

"I'm not an idiot. I've had people give me the same lines before just to get closer to me and eventually my brothers. Why are you any different?"

"Well... I guess I'll have to prove myself to you then!" She exclaimed, latching herself onto my arm.

...

"What kind of game are you talking about Alois?" Ciel asked, raising an eyebrow skeptically **.**

"The fun kind!" Alois chirped impishly.

"Let's say it's something like 'capture the flag'. The teams are you and I of course and the flag..."Alois cast a sidelong glance behind him. "Is Aria Tamburlaine."

Ciel frowned. "What do you mean exactly by capture the flag?"

Alois smiled devilishly. "Whoever fucks her first, wins."

Elizabeth choked on her mineral water.

"You can't be serious." Ciel responded, his voice displaying his confusion.

"Alois! How dare you!" Elizabeth squealed when she stopped choking. "Ciel would never do something so... so... _repulsive_! Stop trying to drag him down to your disgusting level!"

Alois rolled his eyes at her.

"Shut up, Lizzie." He shot back and Elizabeth huffed in indignation. She collected her things in a hurry and stomped out of the cafeteria. This regained the group's attention.

"What's the matter with her?" Bardroy asked lazily. Nobody made any move to go after her.

"So how about it Ciel?" Alois asked, ignoring the question.

"What are you guys talking about?" Soma wondered.

"Yeah, what did Alois say to Elizabeth?" Finnian asked, frowning in confusion.

"There's no way either of us have a chance with her, Alois." Ciel deadpanned.

"With who?" Mey-rin questioned.

"Are you saying that you're afraid of being rejected by her?" Alois challenged. Ciel frowned.

"No, but even an idiot like you could tell that we have no chance."

"So you're saying that you won't even try? Well I guess after she falls head over heels for me I'll be sure to remind you of this conversation." Alois quipped.

Their group of friends continued to question them but they continued to be ignored.

"She's not going to sleep with you Alois." Ciel said, a harshness in his voice that was not there before.

"I'm willing to prove you wrong. And if I'm wrong _you_ can sleep with her." Alois replied smoothly. He smirked internally as he realized Ciel was falling into his trap.

"This is stupid." Ciel concluded, his tone resigned.

"Maybe. But it'll make this one hell of a year." Alois grinned.

"So here are the rules..."

* * *

 **Thanks so much for all your support and for the review this story got! I can see that you guys are interested so I'll try to maintain a 2 chapters a month schedule around the 15th and 30th of each month! Although if I'm catching up too quickly I'll move it back down to one chapter. Sorry that this one is a bit short- This is the last chapter that's going to explain the setting and side characters- next chapter is diving into the plot with a special call from Aria's family member?! And hints about what she is?! Stay tuned! Thanks again for the support! Please keep it coming so I can actually finish this story!**

 **Check out my other Skip Beat story also updated today! They Had Each Other! My take on the lives of Cain and Setsuka Heel without the help of the actors underneath them! Also I'm officially a Beta Reader now! Let me know if you'd like me to be yours!**


	3. The Flag

**THE FLAG**

 _"Your mother called."_

* * *

"And then she told me that my hair was sticking up! Why didn't she just tell me that in the first place?!" Freckles laughed wholeheartedly. She had been talking nonstop since we met in the hallway, I wasn't sure if this was her way of "proving herself" but I was glad she stopped talking about my brothers. On the other hand, people were paying more attention to me than usual, and I wasn't sure if it was because of all the new students this year or because not only was I in the cafeteria but someone was sitting with me. I sighed heavily, hoping nobody else would take it as an invitation for them to try.

The room suddenly broke out in squeals and barely hushed whispers of excitement. Even without looking up I knew who had just walked in.

"Why is everyone…? Oh! Is that them?!" Freckles suddenly nudged me with her elbow and I lazily looked up. Sebastian and Claude had just walked into the cafeteria, followed by their friends Angela Blanc and Ash Landers. I couldn't contain my snicker of amusement when I saw Grell hanging off Sebastian's arm and of course Victoria was hanging on to Claude's.

"They're just like celebrities… Everyone is staring at them in awe." Freckles mumbled sounding amazed.

I, personally, found it odd that no crazed fangirl had run up to them yet. Maybe there were rules about that in the cafeteria.

"I'm guessing the one with glasses is Claude and the more suave looking one is Sebastian… but who are those other people?" Freckles asked, turning her attention back to me.

"You've heard of Claude and Sebastian but not their royal cabinet?" I responded, absentmindedly fiddling with the straw in my drink.

"Not really… Someone might have said something about them but I'm not exaggerating when I say all _everyone_ talks about is your brothers." I pointed towards the group with my straw, no harm in telling her who not to talk to.

"Okay...so the one hanging all over Claude is someone you should never ever talk to, that's Alexandrina Victoria, her parents own this school. But don't ever refer to her as Alexandrina." Freckles opened her mouth to question me. "Don't ask. Just don't. Anyways, the two similar looking people with the white hair are Angela Blanc and Ash Landers they're friends of Claude and Sebastian, but don't talk to them either. I mean you could- but they don't talk to anyone outside that group except for myself occasionally. And last and definitely least the guy- yes I know you're shocked- hanging off of Sebastian is Grell Sutcliff and he's literally in love with Sebastian **.** Unrequited, of course." I pointed to each individual with my straw. Freckles nodded in understanding.

"So… is Claude dating Victoria then?" She asked as we watched them sit at their table. I shrugged, it's not like I could answer that with a yes or no.

Sebastian happened to look up, and as he was sitting directly in my field of vision we met eyes. He waved at me and sent a curious glance towards Freckles. I didn't bother waving back, I tried to avoid communication with either of them at school.

"You don't sit with them?" Freckles asked, not noticing the exchange between Sebastian and I.

"No."

"Why not?" Her questions began to annoy me, so I sipped at my cherry coke instead of answering.

I'm sure she was still asking me things or babbling on about something but I began to tune her out, looking around the cafeteria lazily. The noise in here was starting to give me a headache, why do people feel the need to yell when they're sitting right next to each other?

A familiar blue head of hair caught my attention.

Why was it only now that I noticed him? He didn't seem like he was new to this school. I'm sure his blue hair would stand out in a crowd. So, why was it only now…?

As if to answer the question the boy turned around suddenly and caught my gaze. A faint blush dusted his cheeks and he looked away immediately. I frowned in confusion. _Earlier he was able to hold my gaze steadily, what changed?_

 _Better yet, **why did I even care**? _

I huffed in annoyance and gathered my things.

"Where are you going?" Freckles asked, standing up with me. I had forgotten that she was even there.

Ignoring her still, I walked away from our table and out of the cafeteria and Freckles scrambled after me. As I went to throw away my trash I felt a stare coming from the same table as the blue haired boy but somehow I felt that it wasn't as innocent a stare and walked out of the cafeteria without looking back.

...

"So how was your day, Aria?" Sebastian asked, sinking into the plush couch. I pulled out a drink from the refrigerator and walked over to where he sat, sinking down on the couch next to him.

"Shitty. Aleistor swiped my schedule first thing in the morning so now he promises to wait for me after every class. And Mr. Spears is such a hardass. He lectured me about what I was wearing ' _Come to school dressed properly next time, Miss Tamburlaine._ ' What's wrong with what I'm wearing?!"

"Ah, Aleistor? I haven't spoken to him in a while. Does he still hate me? And Claude and I told you to change this morning so don't even start." Sebastian commented airily, turning on the tv.

"He wouldn't be Aleistor Chamber if he didn't hate the two of you. Not sure what he sees in me though. Anyways, he told me to say hello for him."

"I'm not sure what he sees in you either." Sebastian joked, jabbing me in the ribs with his elbow. "Anyways, who were you sitting with at lunch today?"

"Yes, _who_ _were_ _you_ sitting with at lunch today? What were you doing in the cafeteria anyways?" Claude asked, having returned from upstairs. I didn't like his tone of voice, he sounded as though he was accusing me of something.

"It was a girl. And I don't have a car, remember?" I snapped, narrowing my eyes. Some of the tension in the room died down.

"I've never seen her before." Claude replied without changing his accusatory tone.

"Aria, why don't you ever talk to us at school?" Sebastian whined, trying to lighten the mood.

"She's new. And why does it even matter?" I challenged, ignoring Sebastian.

Claude glared harshly at me. "And yet you wonder why we tell you the same thing _every_ time. You just don't understand how dangerous it all is."

"I understand!" I yelled, standing up to face him. "One time! I messed up that _one_ time! And you'll never let me forget it! Then you lecture me about being too unfriendly only to turn around and say I can't have any friends! What the hell do you want from me?!" I shouted, rage overcoming me.

It was always the same scene every time I talked to someone new.

I'd never really had any close friends. Nobody actually wanted to be friends with me, they just wanted a chance to talk to my brothers. I grew up without a fatherly figure to scare away my boyfriends, so Sebastian and Claude took on that job themselves. As if preserving my innocence was their goal.

Sebastian stepped between us looking exasperated.

"Calm down, both of you. Claude I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this, we don't even know if this girl will stick around for long. I mean only so few people can tolerate Aria's attitude anyways."

 _Right_ , I thought bitterly, _because my attitude is the problem here_.

I glared at Sebastian, then turned and pushed Claude out of the way. This conversation was over as far as I was concerned.

"Aria." Claude called. Ignoring him, I began ascending the staircase.

"Your mother called." My foot paused above a step.

"What for?" I snapped, keeping my gaze on the steps.

"You ask as though she'd actually tell me. Just talk to her soon. She gets annoying when you go without speaking to her for a long time." I sighed and continued up the stairs.

I opened the door to my room, threw my bag against the wall and collapsed onto my bed.

Yawning tiredly, I fished my phone out of my back pocket and held it out in front of me. Hesitantly, I called my mother.

She answered on the second ring.

"Aria, sweetheart! How nice of you to give your own mother a call! I gave birth to you, you know? And you just go off and forget about me…" I rolled my eyes, sighing with irritation.

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

"Oh, so that's what you called to say? No 'Hello, mother how are you?' Well at least that imbecile Claude can follow simple instructions."

" _Mother_. What do you want?" I repeated, growing irritated.

"Oh-yes that's right. You turn seventeen this year, my darling! We have to start planning your Welcoming ceremony! I've been planning for it since you were little but even still there's so much work to be done before this spring!" I groaned out loud.

"What was- Aria have you just _groaned_ at me? Don't act like that, I know those two boys haven't been raising you as well as I would like but I would have hoped they would have at least told you how rude that was. Now, there are quite a few young gentlemen who have expressed their hopes of meeting you. Don't worry I haven't told them how special you are, we all know how dangerous that would be. However, because of that you will have to look your absolute best at the ceremony so I'll have to send someone to get your measurements so we can sew you the perfect gown! Now is there anything in particular that you would like for your ceremony?"

"How about not having it at all?"My mother began laughing hysterically.

"Oh my, Aria, you certainly have quite the sense of humor!" Her cheery voice had taken on a dangerous edge, as it tended to do whenever I said something she didn't like, and I decided it was in my best interest to actually think about her question. I have never wanted to not do something in my life as much as I didn't want to have this Welcoming ceremony but my mother would never take no for an answer.

"Well… are Claude and Sebastian allowed to come?"

"I suppose… as long as they _behave_ themselves. I can't have them making a fool of themselves in your name. Oh! I know this is a bit cliché… but I was thinking that we would do a masquerade ball? Are you okay with that or do you hate it?"

"That's alright I guess."

"Okay, good, good! So, today was the first day back at school, correct?"

"Yes." I was surprised she had remembered.

"How was it?"

"Okay, I guess. A girl kept insisting on talking to me and even sat with me at lunch, which of course made Claude lecture me again. He will never ever let me forget about that _one_ time."

"Oh the one time you…?"

"As if there is possibly any other thing I've done wrong mother." I snapped.

"Are you eating properly?"

" _Yes._ "

"Then you should be fine, darling. Let me know if you need anything at all. I'm sorry that I can't be there for you, love. But now that I've figured out how to use this new-fangled technology- it really is amazing! Did you know I can play music anywhere at any time in an instant? I've been listening to Brahms all day on my cellular telephone!" I sighed and a hint of a smile forced its way onto my face.

"Yes, mother that is amazing."

"Isn't it?! Anyways, darling, you can call me whenever you need me and I swear to you I'll be there for you."

"I know, mother. Thank you."

"So! I'll have a seamstress come out to take your measurements soon, I'll let you know when I send them."

"Okay."

"Alright, darling, have a great week. Remember you can call me whenever you like. I know the time difference makes it hard for me to reach you but I'm always awake."

"Sure."

"I love you, Aria."

"Bye mother." I ended the call, and closed my eyes.

"Ugh...tired." I mumbled and rolled over promptly falling asleep.

...

"What did your mother want to talk about yesterday?" Sebastian asked in Claude's car the next day.

"She wanted to start planning my birthday party." I answered, staring out of the window.

"She's never wanted to do that before. Is there something special about you turning seventeen?" Claude questioned.

"Apparently."

"And what's so special about it?" Sebastian said, pushing me to elaborate.

"To her… side of the family, turning seventeen is the age that I'm to be welcomed into society. She said there are some guys interested in meeting me as well." The tension in the car rose just as I thought it would.

"And everyone coming is from _her_ side of the family?" Claude asked tersely.

"Yes."

"So, are we allowed to come then?" Sebastian wondered.

"I asked her if you could. She said yes, but you guys need to be on your absolute best behavior." Sebastian chuckled.

"We're always on our best behavior!"

" _Sure_ you are.

* * *

 **First, thank you all SO much for you continued support! Especially those of you who have followed and favorited the story! It really lets me know that you're interested and you want to keep reading and I plan to deliver! Who wants to write something that nobody cares about?**

 **Secondly, my apologies for the formatting issues last chapter! This site tends to automatically take away line breaks and things like that not to mention the entire chapter was in bold, whoops! It's all fixed now.**

 **Thirdly, omg what?! Angela and Ash are _friends_ with Sebastian and Claude? Yes. I imagine them to be a lot more subdued, almost as they acted before their true identity was revealed. Two parts of the same subdued whole if you will. But I'll give more insight as to the strange relationships between certain characters at a later date.**

 **And I almost forgot! Hopefully the odd way that I switch back and forth between the point of view isn't confusing! Let me know if it is! Aria is always in first person, then Ciel and Alois are always in third. Sometimes I go back and forth in the time like last chapter Alois and Ciel saw Aria sit with a girl and then I went to Aria's point of view and explained why and who that was etc etc.**

 **See you all on the 29th! The Game begins next chapter!**


	4. The Scrimmage

**The Scrimmage**

" _What's going on here?"_

* * *

I was walking to first period when Aleistor finally caught up to me.

"My dearest raven, you have finally appeared before my longing eyes!" I ignored him and quickened my pace a little. At this rate I was going to be late for Mr. Spear's class.

"I heard that you were sitting in the cafeteria yesterday, I was filled with despair to know that I was not at your side! Tell me, my beautiful creature will you be at the same location today?"

"It's not very becoming of you to call a girl a creature." I scoffed. Aleistor looped his elbow with mine and pulled me closer to his side.

"Ah, my sincerest apologies! I mean creature not as in beast but as a definition of your otherworldly beauty." I cast a curious glance at him only to find that he was beaming down at me already. He was annoying me already and there was a pretty good chance that I was going to be late to Mr. Spear's class so I decided to mess with him.

"You don't think Victoria is prettier than me?" He stiffened for a second and faltered when my fast moving legs left without him; had he not been holding on my arm he probably would have fallen flat on his face. _What a shame._

"Victoria is but a flower while you are the most beautiful of roses." He replied, a certain amount of strain in his voice.

"That didn't really answer my question. She could easily be the most beautiful azalea." Aleistor actually laughed at that, the opposite of what I was hoping to achieve.

"I see that you're well versed in botany, my beautiful rose. Calling her a poisonous flower that so eloquently describes her being, is not something I was expecting from you but I must say that I am pleasantly surprised." He began laughing again.

Disappointed that my mocking had accidentally pleased him, I ignored his comment completely.

"I'm going to be late for class if you don't start walking faster." I then gritted my teeth in annoyance as I realized I was still letting him hold my arm. However, since trying to get him to let go of me would cause even more fuss, in which case I would _definitely_ be late- I swallowed down my displeasure.

"Oi! My apologies! The bell is soon to ring, isn't it?" He quickened his pace, and we began speed walking down the hall.

Surprisingly, the late bell rung barely a second after Aleistor opened the door for me and I rushed inside. He would surely be late, but it's not as if I forced him to walk me to my class.

Mr. Spears glared at me, but didn't look nearly as disgusted as he did yesterday when someone was late. Speaking of which, even _he_ had made it to class before me. But seeing as he only just slapped a notebook onto his desk, he wasn't very much earlier. I took Mr. Spears silence as invitation to sit down and made my way to an empty seat off to the side of the classroom.

We went through the boring process of saying the pledge of allegiance and listening to the morning announcements.

"I see that everyone is on time today." Mr. Spears began, sending a disapproving look towards the blonde that was late yesterday.

"Today you'll be working on a practice test covering material you should already be familiar with. This does count for a test grade so please treat it as such." He picked a stack of neatly stapled packets and handed them to the person sitting in the far left side of the classroom. The person took a packet for themselves then passed it backwards.

"That means no talking whatsoever, no partner work, and no comparing answers. There are 75 questions. Some contain written response questions and prompts to create a graph while others are multiple choice. Once everyone has their tests there will be no talking permitted, so please ask your questions now, and mind you- if it is something I've already answered you'll be receiving a zero on this test."

Tests first thing in the morning? I groaned internally. Another loud groan echoed in the classroom. I was momentarily startled wondering if I had accidentally groaned out loud when I realized the sound had actually come from the troublesome blonde.

"Mr. Trancy! Do you wish to begin this semester with a failing grade?" The blonde ran a hand through his hair and slumped forward, resting his elbow on his desk.

"What? All I did was groan. You didn't say we could get a zero from complaining. Do we even have enough time to actually finish this? I mean 75 questions in 40 minutes? It's like you want us to fail." Mr. Spears scowled and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

He opened his mouth to speak, most likely to suspend the kid, when the classroom door suddenly opened. A woman that I recognized as the school counselor walked in. She walked quickly over to Mr. Spears desk and began talking to him in a hushed voice.

After a minute or so of that, Mr. Spears nodded stiffly and immediately walked out into the hallway.

The counselor, Ms. Paula, walked behind Mr. Spears desk and addressed us.

"Hi, everyone! Good morning! Mr. Spears had to run out to take care of something, so I'll be babysitting you all until he gets back! Do you guys know what you're supposed to be doing?" The majority of the class agreed that we did and Paula sat down at the desk.

The test packet, at a pause while Paula talked, finally reached me. I took one and handed the rest to the person behind me.

Flipping through the pages, I began to understand the blonde's discontent. There was practically no way all of this work was going to get done in the remaining time before the bell rung.

I was on question twenty-two when I heard the screeching of a chair being pushed out. I raised my head. The blonde had gotten up and was walking down the aisle next to mine.

He got to the chair right next to me, where a shy looking girl was sitting.

"Excuse me." The girl looked up, startled into a bright red face.

"Do you mind trading seats with me?" The girl looked confused but seeing as he was standing over her in an odd way and was already known as the trouble-maker in class she gathered her things quickly, nodding like a bobble head the entire time. Within 30 seconds she was reseated in his seat. Paula noticed the whole thing but said nothing, probably deciding it wasn't too much of a bother for her to need to intervene.

The blonde slumped into his new seat and his cologne, which smelled faintly like Aleistors, filled my nostrils unpleasantly. I glanced over at him from the corner of my eye but decided to ignore him.

"So… what question are you on?" He asked suddenly.

At my silence, he leaned across his desk to get a look at my paper, making me extremely uncomfortable.

"Wow… how are you already almost halfway finished?! Can you help me? I don't remember learning any of this stuff and I'm sure if I fail this Spears is going to fail me for every single thing this year. He already hates me." I sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to leave me alone unless I said something, and put my pencil down turning to look at him.

I was startled for a second as he was much closer to me than I had expected since he was still looking at my test and we immediately met eyes. I hastily adjusted myself so that there was an acceptable distance between us.

"Why don't you ask someone else to help you? I'm not interested in tutoring." He smiled brightly at me, catching me off guard.

"Just kidding. I couldn't give a rat's ass about this class. I'm sure even if I did do this test Spears would fail me anyways so I'm not wasting my time." I raised an eyebrow at him, and raised my chin in apprehension.

"So you came all the way over here to tell me that?" I asked, snidely. He looked almost abashed at that.

"Well… No. I just wanted an excuse to talk to you." I rolled my eyes at him and decided to get back to my work.

"I'm not introducing you to Claude. I'm not giving him any note or letter or any other gift, and I am definitely not giving you his phone number."

"What?" The blonde asked, perplexed.

"You're the one who was talking about how hot Claude is and how big his dick is, right?" The blonde blew out a low breath and I sighed in annoyance when I realized I had hit the nail on the head.

"Yeah, that was me. I'm sorry about that, it was totally inappropriate." I was hardly listening to him now, pouring as much concentration as I could into finishing the test.

"Nothing wrong with what you said. You're not the first and you definitely won't be the last." I mumbled.

"But," His placed his hand on top of my arm. "Claude isn't the reason I came over here. I just wanted to talk to you." I turned to glare at him only to find that once again he was too close.

"Why?" I snapped. The blonde shrugged.

"To apologize. Which I've done already and then to introduce myself. I'm Alois Trancy." He smiled again and his lip piercing shined in the light.

"Okay."

"Aren't you going to tell me your name?" Annoyance flared up inside me.

"Why should I? Don't act as if you don't already know it. Anyways, I'm not interested in whatever it is you're trying to do and you're distracting me."

"Oh. Right, okay, you still have half a test to finish. I'll leave you to it then."

...

"Ciel! Ciel!" Alois burst out once he spotted his blue haired friend sitting in their usual table in the cafeteria.

"What is it Alois?" Ciel asked tiredly, as he and Elizabeth took their seats at the already crowded table.

"I talked to Aria today! Looks like I'm going to win our little bet!" Elizabeth had begun to scowl as she fished her lunch out of her purse.

"I still can't believe you both decided to do something so vulgar. Not to mention offensive. Women aren't something to be won." Alois, irritated that Elizabeth was once again raining on his parade with her whole "better than thou" attitude snapped at her.

"Shut the fuck up, Elizabeth." She gasped in outrage and shut her mouth, setting the last of her lunch on the table angrily.

"Alois that was uncalled for." Finny chastised, sending a disapproving glare his way.

"You can shut the fuck up too, Finny." Alois snapped, sending an equally as disapproving glare to Finny. Mey-rin who had been listening, spoke her confusion.

"What bet are you talking about?" Ciel opened his mouth most likely to tell her that it was nothing but him and Alois ended up speaking at the same time.

"Nothing-"

"Whoever fucks Aria Tamburlaine first!"

That got everyone's attention.

" _What_?!" Soma sputtered at the same time as Finny, both of them looking between Ciel and Alois with wide eyes. Ciel sighed in annoyance and looked down, picking the crust off of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Bard, who was in the middle of wolfing down a hamburger, had begun to choke violently and Mey-rin worriedly slapped him on the back. Agni raised his eyebrows in surprise but said nothing. Thompson, Canterbury and Timber looked to Hannah to see how they should respond but seeing as Hannah was calmly sipping her tea she seemed to either not care or was pretending to not have heard so the three of them did the same.

" _I_ seem to be winning. Though it's more of a race then a bet." Alois said with a smug smirk on his face.

"Ciel would agree to do such a thing?" Soma asked sounding both extremely confused and on the verge of tears. The rest of the group looked just as confused. Alois often tried to drag Ciel into his antics but Ciel had usually declined.

"Yup!" Alois grinned cheerfully. "He seems to have _quite_ the crush. Too bad he won't be getting her."

Ciel remained silent, nearly finished with de-crusting his sandwich. Bard's surprise seemed to have worn off and he started barking with laughter. Everyone looked at him in shock.

"Alois did you just say you had a chance!?" He stopped as another wave of convulsions shook through his frame at the statement. "You're the one she heard talking about her brother's cock size! I'm pretty sure you're in the negatives with brownie points!" Bard laughed again. Alois flicked him off.

"But she actually remembered me from that! I'm sure she's heard people talking about her brothers all the time, but she remembered _me_ specifically." Finny looked disgusted.

"I'm with Bard. Definitely in the negatives. I'd actually be _surprised_ if she went with you instead of Ciel, Alois." Alois sucked his teeth in anger.

"Didn't I tell you to shut the fuck up Finny?" Finny glared at him furiously.

"Are you guys crazy?!" Mey-rin squealed, her own shock finally showing.

"You guys aren't good enough to even get her to _talk_ to either of you! Besides haven't you heard the rumors that she's never dated anyone because of her brothers?! They, like, won't let her date _anyone_! So, she's probably a _virgin_! Which means double strike out! She would probably only agree to have sex with like a model… or wait maybe that's it! Why her brothers are so protective over her! Maybe they're all in love with each other and have threesomes every night~ oh my god they probably worship her body and-" Her nose started bleeding profusely. Bard rolled his eyes, and he pulled her along with him to the bathroom, Mey-rin babbling non-stop the entire time about her erotic fantasies **.**

Now it was Soma's turn to lose it.

"Ciel!" He was actually crying now. "Please tell me it isn't true. How could you bet a woman's body like that? A woman must fall in love with a man to be able to give herself. Would you really play with a heart so cruelly?" Ciel finally looked up from his sandwich tired of all the theatrics around him. He had known that they would react this way to hearing about the bet. He would have much rather preferred to have kept it quiet. But Alois just _had_ to show off and prove that he was better. In hindsight, Ciel should have never agreed to this bet. He knew that since it was a bad idea it would end just as that; badly. But he got a bad taste in his mouth at the thought of Alois having something that he could not. He was superior in every way to Alois. He couldn't allow his pride to be trampled over so easily. That was the cause of the bad taste in his mouth. Right?

Suddenly angry, and wanting to be any place but at this overdramatic table he swiftly stood from his seat. Throwing his now crustless sandwich in the trash. He had suddenly lost his appetite.

"Ciel! Tell me that it is not true! Please!" Soma cried. Ciel glanced behind him to where the blubbering buffoon sat but accidentally made eye contact with Elizabeth who had been staring at him.

"Have you talked to her yet?" She asked, her voice calculated, trying hard to not let any emotion show in that one question.

Ciel clenched his teeth together and walked away. As he was storming out of the cafeteria he collided with another body knocking them both off balance and Ciel toppled down on top of them.

...

"So have you heard those rumors? I'm sure you have. That was a stupid question. But people are saying that you're going out with Aleistor Chambers!" Freckles was rambling once again. Our art teacher was out yet again and since it was basically free period Freckles had spent the majority of her time working on late homework but evidently she had finished and moved to sit across from me. Here I was thinking that today would be a nice, quiet day.

"Yes." I answer vaguely. My mind focused on the drawing in front of me, I remembered to bring charcoal pencils today so I was more than happy to get some actual art done.

" _Yes_!? Yes, what? Yes, you two are dating?! Then are the rumors that you haven't ever dated anyone just rumors?" Irritated by the very idea that I could be dating Aleistor, I press harder on the pencil than I intended to and as a result the drawing, a bare tree branch, is ruined. I sigh in frustration.

" _Yes_ , I have heard the rumors. _No_ , we are not dating. _No_ , the rumors that I haven't dated anyone are not just rumors." I tear out the paper from my sketchbook and crumple it starting over again on a new page. Freckles launches into a frenzy and begins talking far louder than I would have liked. Everyone was still surprised that I was talking to her and to be honest I was just as surprised. Maybe it was because she was so relentless and talked whether I responded or not.

"What!? Out of all the rumors that was the most far-fetched… well maybe not the _most_ , but I would never have guessed that one was true! Why haven't you? Does that mean you haven't ever kissed anyone? Or… _you know_? Well, I guess you don't necessarily _have_ to be in a relationship with someone to do those things. Not that I'm suggesting you sleep around! You don't seem like that kind of person. But I mean if you do, I'm not judging you!" I look up from my drawing and give her a look, she stops talking immediately but after a few moments of silence she changes subjects **.**

"So isn't Aleistor on the cross country team? With Sebastian? Is that how you know him? You didn't say he was one of your brother's friends, though." I let out a scoff in an attempt to not burst into laughter.

"That's hilarious. Suggesting Sebastian and Aleistor are friends... I know Aleistor because he's in love with me and convinced that _I'm_ the one with the crush. He hates my brothers." I begin drawing the outline of the tree again.

"What are you drawing?" I hand the crumpled piece of paper to her and shade the underside of the branch on the new drawing.

"This is good. What's wrong with it?" I check the clock, the bell will ring in any minute. I close my sketchbook and tuck it safely in my bag.

"I made a mistake."

The bell rung and I rose from my seat, surprising myself when I waited for Freckles who was totally unprepared to pack up her things.

When we walked out of the classroom to my extreme disappointment the man of the hour was waiting. I rolled my eyes at him and stepped out of the doorway so Freckles could see him and hopefully distract him.

"Oh my gosh! You're him aren't you!? Aleistor Chambers?! Aria you could have at least told me you were going to introduce him to me!" Aleistor looked taken aback by my company, which was to be expected because I'd never let anyone hang around me before.

"Ah- yes. I am." He held her hand, bringing it up to his face to plant a soft kiss on the back of it. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance….?" An awkward silence ensued as Freckles was too flustered to use her brain and realize that he was waiting for a response.

"Freckles." I answered for her.

" _Freckles_." Aleistor repeated, letting go of her hand.

"My beautiful rose," Aleistor began, looking over Freckles' head at me. "I hope you'll allow me to accompany you to lunch this afternoon."

I roll my eyes at him. "Even if I said no, you'd still come with us anyways."

"So...is it alright if I take that as a yes, then?" I begin walking towards the cafeteria, wondering if Freckles is too dazed to follow along.

" **No**."

"You're always playing so hard to get," Aleistor chimes, taking quick steps to catch up to me. "If only you'd just admit to yourself that you're interested in me we wouldn't waste so much time bickering." He quickly reaches out and takes a hold of my hand. No wonder so many rumors about us dating are going around.

"Stop," I snap, wrestling my hand out of his grip. "You're giving Freckles the wrong idea." I look behind us and see that she's following behind us slowly and her expression is full of starstruck-dazed wonder.

"I just explained to her that we weren't dating." Apparently that hurt his feelings because instead of properly responding he made one of his _twisting-your-words-around-to-my-liking_ jokes.

"You were talking about me then?" He asks smugly with a grin on his face. I groan and walk faster to the cafeteria.

"She heard rumors that we were dating and I wanted to clarify that we weren't." Aleistor grins even brighter and slings his arm around my shoulder pulling me closer to him.

"But we could be, if you just admitted your feelings for me. I would cherish you every single day and in _every single way_." He mumbles the last part directly into my ear and then nibbles on my earlobe.

"Get off of me!" I snap, putting a little too much strength into my push and sending him falling towards the lockers. With a huff I walk even faster to the cafeteria thinking that maybe I should just plead for Sebastian to take me out to eat.

I get to the cafeteria first and, continuing to walk quickly because I don't want those two to catch up with me, look over to Sebastian's table only to see that there was nobody there. Feeling like an idiot, I suddenly remember that he told me they were going to eat off campus today and invited me to join them, and I had declined because spending my entire lunch period with Victoria either glaring at me or pretending that I'm not there didn't sound ideal.

Suddenly, someone knocks into me with their full force and I lose balance, falling backward onto the dirty cafeteria floor. The person who knocked into me then falls on top of me, successfully pinning me to the ground. I lay there with my head to the floor, in too much shock to move but not in enough shock to ignore the whispers starting around the cafeteria. The person on top of me seems to not realize that they are still laying on top of me, and I wonder exactly how long I'm going to be pinned under them and whether or not I should try to get a nap in.

After what feels like an eternity of waiting a surprised voice shakes breaks the shock of the moment.

"Oh my gosh, Aria!" Freckles declares loudly no doubt getting the entire cafeterias attention. The person above me visibly turns red in the neck though I can't see who they are just yet. They scramble off of me, in a way that's shockingly elegant given the situation, and offers a hand towards me.

"I am _so_ incredibly sorry." The mystery person says, and I find myself looking into their eyes as they help me to my feet. Blue, sapphire and blazing like a freshly cut stones. It's _him_. The mysterious boy with the weird air around him. And of course it is, because him stampeding into me like an angered bull is the buttercream icing to my bad day. Though, despite his level voice he seems to be incredibly nervous and equally embarrassed judging by the increasingly red hue of his face. Suddenly, his hand is rising up to my face and the air in my lungs disappears as he gently plucks something out of my hair in a stunningly affectionate gesture.

"What's going on here?" Aleistor demands, he must have just gotten here. For some reason I'm now locked in a staring contest with the boy in front of me, I can't help but feel like I'm being challenged by a wild animal and if I look away I'll be admitting defeat. Luckily, I don't have to because he breaks out of whatever trance that he was in and rushes out of the cafeteria mumbling apologies as he goes. My eyes trail after him as he leaves.

"Oh my gosh, Aria! Are you okay?" Freckles cries breaking out of her shock, rushing over to me and brushing the back of my head in an attempt to clean my hair.

"Are you okay, Aria? Who was that?" Aleistor asks in a surprisingly worried voice. I blink a few times to shake away the weird fogginess in my brain.

 _What the hell was that?_

* * *

 **And... scene!**

 **Things are picking up finally, huh?**

 **Anyways I didn't get too much feedback followers or otherwise on the last chapter! If you're interested _please_ let me know! I don't want to lose momentum for this story- I'm still excited every time I post a new chapter! On a similar note thank you so much to everyone who _has_ shown their support for the story and continues to read. I've got a lot more in store for you all!**

 **Also, expect one chapter next month, these last few months have been a bit hectic and the little time I do have I spend doing everything _but_ writing and I'm getting a bit too close to where I actually am in the story. **

**Thanks for reading!**

 **(Quick note: For those not sports inclined a scrimmage is basically when you play against another team for practice in an unranked match but it also means a confused struggle or fight)**


	5. Points

**POINTS**

" _You're going to go to Hell for this_."

* * *

Ciel was embarrassed. In fact, Ciel was more embarrassed than he had ever been before in his life. He was more embarrassed than the one time Alois told everyone that they had made out, omitting the fact that Ciel was drunk off his face when it happened. He felt like everyone in the entire school had heard about him knocking Aria Tamburlaine to the ground and he didn't doubt it because everywhere he went stares and whispers followed him. He could still feel the stares as he got into his grandfather's car and shut the door.

He stayed silent as the car pulled out of the parking lot and turned onto the street.

"Not even going to say hello, Ciel?" His grandfather asked after the car remained silent for a few minutes.

"Sorry, grandfather, it's been a tough day." Ciel said, sinking down into his seat.

"I'm sure it has. So, tell me, how exactly did you manage to knock Aria Tamburlaine onto the floor of the cafeteria?" Correction: Ciel was now mortified.

"How on Earth do you know that?" Ciel asked, wishing that he could turn into a particle of dust and disappear forever.

"I am the principal, you know. I've heard quite a few students talking about it in the hallways." Ciel groaned and sunk farther into his seat.

"So?" His grandfather pressed.

"So, what?" Ciel asked in confusion.

"So, how did you manage to become the talk of the school in minutes?" He asked in jest, elbowing Ciel playfully.

"I don't know! I was walking out of the cafeteria because Alois was being exceptionally irritating today and all of a sudden she was underneath me and I was laying like a boulder on top of her." His grandfather laughed wholeheartedly.

"Well she's quite the looker, isn't she?" Ciel's face was a burning reminder of his embarrassment.

"Grandfather!" He sputtered.

"What? Her and those brothers of hers hardly even look like students. They look like they should be on the front cover of some Greek magazine. Or maybe Italian… Which do you think Ciel?"

"I think that you should stop talking about her and drive because the light has been green for a while now." Ciel snapped, sulking.

"Ho, ho, ho," His grandfather chuckled. "I'm sorry. You know, I've only ever seen you so flustered once before and you refused to tell me what happened." Ciel plucked a piece of lint from his pants.

"It was Alois related." His grandfather chuckled again.

"Oh ho, of course it was. Nobody riles you up quite like that young man. He brings out the best in you." Ciel scoffed.

"How is angering me every chance he gets bringing out the best in me?"

Ciel's grandfather glanced over at him, seeing the sulking expression on his face.

"It's not the emotion that matters, Ciel. It's the fact that he can evoke emotion out of you at all. You've been closed of ever since your parents passed away. Becoming friends with Alois Trancy has broken down that wall a bit. You smile a lot more these days." As if a switch was flipped Ciel's face became passive and he focused his attention on the light rain that had begun to wet the windows of the car.

His grandfather sighed, seeing his reaction. His parents had always been a sensitive subject for him, as if mentioning them brought on a tidal wave of old memories. Though, that was exactly his point. For a long time he acted that way whether his parents were mentioned or not, that Alois seemed to serve as a great distraction.

...

"Who was that!?" Freckles asked for the umpteenth time since we had sat down at the lunch table. I was practically twitching from the amount of people staring at us. The whispering had grown into full blown chatter, everyone speculating about what had just happened. It honestly wasn't that big of a deal. Someone bumped into me. He knocked me down, but he helped me back up and apologized. It's not like he randomly ran up to me and kissed me. It was an accident. But at the same time…

Why did it bother me so much?

I felt embarrassed as if I had been caught at school with only my underwear on. But maybe that was because the _entire cafeteria_ was staring intently at me.

"Why aren't you answering us?!" Aleistor cried, banging his palm on the table. Great, just get a cameraman in here and this could be a _great_ reality tv show. I ignored them both, as I had been doing since we had sat down and continued scraping at some frozen fruit thing Freckles had gotten me from the lunch line. Was it even actual fruit? It looked like strips of raw meat surrounded by ice.

"Actually, wait…" Aleistor said as if he had just had an epiphany. "Wasn't that… a Phantomhive? What was his name…?" He grabbed his chin and held his chin in deep thought. Suddenly he snapped his fingers and pointed at me.

"Ciel. Ciel Phantomhive." Ciel? That was his name? Didn't that mean sky in French? I thought for a moment. Well, it also means heaven and… _blue._ A surprisingly fitting name.

"Ciel Phantomhive!?" Doll cried. "Aren't his family the proprietors of the school!?"

"I'm impressed, Freckles." Aleistor commended. "You're surprisingly well informed. But sadly… incorrect. His family _used_ to be the proprietors. Until his parents died nearly a decade ago. Now the school is owned by Victoria's family. Oh- but I believe his grandfather is the principal still." It was becoming increasingly hard to act uninterested by the conversation. His family must be rich and aristocratic. Maybe that's why he seems so above everyone else.

Freckled piped up at the new information. "I think that he's in our art class, isn't he, Aria? That's so sad about his parents dying. How did they-"

"Can you stop talking about him? I couldn't care less about his past or family history." Which was true, I _didn't_ care, I was only _mildly_ curious. "He just bumped into me and happened to knock me down. It was an accident."

"He caressed your face!" Aleistor shouted in disbelief. "If it _was_ an accident than I _refuse_ to believe that you two _don't_ know each other!" I closed my eyes in an attempt to contain my frustration. At this point going home was going to be twice as bad as what I was going through now. I sighed. Claude was going to throw an absolute _fit._

"There was something in my hair. He took it out. End of story. Leave it alone." I snapped. Aleistor looked ready to protest again so I said in as harsh of a tone as I could muster,

"If you say _another word_ about it I swear to you I _will_ get up from this table, I will leave this cafeteria, and I will walk all the way home _right now_." I look both of them in the eye and wait a moment for them to decide if they want to continue or not. Finally, when they both seem to get the point I go back to scraping the ice from the meat pieces.

"So, how did you two meet?" Freckles asks after a moment of silence.

Although she wasn't specific in who she was talking about, Aleistor jumped in to answer.

"I am so glad that you asked!" Aleistor gasped. "You see it was last year, when Aria first started attending this school and I was practicing for a track meet…" I barely resisted the urge to knock myself unconscious by banging my head against the lunch table.

...

When Ciel arrived at home he noticed his phone that had been turned off all day was filled with notifications and missed phone calls.

He sighs and closes his bedroom door behind him. After the drama that happened with his friends earlier that day he was definitely _not_ looking forward to how big of a deal they were going to make over what happened with Aria.

He skims over the multitudes of messages and notices, much to his surprise, that there's only one message from Alois.

 **Now who's in the negatives bitch?**

' _Brings out the good in me_ , _my ass_ '; Ciel thinks bitterly. He looks at the rest of his messages.

Soma, who had sent the most messages, is still in disbelief about the bet he made with Alois. Mey-rin desperately wishes that she had seen it herself. Bard hopes that it's not as bad as it sounds and makes a weak attempt to cheer him up.

And… Lizzie.

 **Can we talk? Call me when you get home x**

The _last_ thing Ciel wants to do is talk to _Lizzie_ right now.

The two had dated each other in the last years of middle school and through the first year of high school. Ciel was the one who broke it off. Dating was Lizzie's idea to begin with. Ciel never saw her as more than a friend. But, Lizzie was utterly in love with him and didn't take the break-up well. Though, _Finny_ was there to console her and restore her to some degree of happiness it wasn't until Ciel reassured her that they could stay friends that she finally perked back up. But, evident in their _entire_ second year of high school, Lizzie took that as an invitation to try her hardest to get him back. Much to Finny's dismay. And though her attempts were in vain Lizzie still managed to keep Ciel from dating anyone by staking her absolute claim on him even though they weren't dating.

So, Ciel was sure a phone call with her would be exhausting. But, Ciel being ever-the-gentleman couldn't just ignore her.

"You wanted to talk, Lizzie?" He asked, when she answered the phone.

" _Oh. Hi, Ciel. Yes, I did._ " He could hear her fidgeting with something over the line.

" _Why did you agree to do such a vulgar thing with Alois? I've been trying to think of a reason all day. He's asked you to do crazy things with him before, but you've never agreed to any of it. So...why now?_ " Ciel sighed.

"I don't know. He talked me into it." He replied flippantly. He couldn't honestly answer the question himself.

" _You don't have to go through with it. You could just tell him that he's an idiot and the bet is off._ " She tried.

"I can't do that." He heard the sound of ripping fabric.

" _Ciel! You- You can't do this! How can you even… consider it! Alois has no chance at all! What are you going to do if you win!? Have sex with her and then what?! J-just toss her to the side!? How can you even consider doing that?!_ " Lizzie's voice was breaking all over the place and Ciel was sure that she had started to cry.

"I haven't thought that far ahead."

" _W-What is wrong with you Ciel!?_ " Lizzie screeched. " _Are you doing this just because you want to win against Alois or because you like her!?_ "

"I don't know."

" _You really are worse than Alois if you go through with this. The worst kind of person. You're going to go to Hell for this._ " Then she hung up.

Ciel sighed and put his phone down.

He knew he was being unnecessarily mean to her. He knew what she wanted to hear, he just couldn't bring himself to say those things.

The worst part was that he didn't even feel that bad about it.

* * *

 **Oh it's been so long since I last updated. Or at least it feels like it! Anyways we are back on track now and it'll hopefully be a while before the next once a month update. Hope you all enjoy the next few chapters. And thank you guys so incredibly much for all the support and feedback on the last chapter! It means a lot! Let's get just as much support on this chapter!**

 **Also the site once again did something weird with the way I separate the parts of the chapter. I just realized that if I put in dashes "-" it automatically takes it away when I post it. So for chapters 2 and 3 that's what happened and I apologize if it was difficult to read because it was all mushed together. It's fixed now hopefully so sorry about that again!**


	6. Invalid Move

**INVALID MOVE**

" _You're disgusting."_

* * *

I was forced to make a choice - agree to take up on Aleistor's offer to drive me home _or_ wait until Claude and Sebastian finished their club practices and drove me home in either a tense silence or drilling me about what happened at lunch earlier; which they had surely heard all about.

It was a hard choice to make.

"So…" Aleistor began. "Not to look a gift horse in the mouth but… you only let me drive you when you don't really want to go home." I gazed uninterestedly out of the window, watching the boring scenery pass by. It had begun to rain and the small drops steadily hit the window of the car.

Aleistor continued when I failed to respond. "So, do you want to go... eat something?"

As much I wanted to say no, I really, _really_ didn't want to go home. My brothers wouldn't be home for a while and it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world to spend a bit more of my time with Aleistor.

As much as it pained me to admit.

"I guess..." I mumbled. "But if you call it a date, I'm screaming bloody murder and leaving. And I'm paying for myself."

"Agreed," Aleistor quickly replied.

With that settled, Aleistor drove us to a cafe that I frequented. I hadn't had a chance to go to the cafe recently since I couldn't drive myself without my car.

It was pretty far away from the school so the only people I usually saw in here were regulars, older couples, a single mother that was always typing on her computer, and a lone teenage boy that was always reading a book.

I walked to the spot I always sat in when I came here; against the window at the furthest corner of the small cafe. Aleistor sat down across from me. I decided to ignore the fact that he knew where this place was or that I would want to come here at all.

"Aren't you supposed to be having practice today, too?" I asked, although I couldn't really care less about the answer.

Aleistor scowled. "Well… Seeing as I am no longer team captain, I don't necessarily _have_ to be there. Sebastian will scold me for it later, but I couldn't live with myself knowing that I missed a rare opportunity to be at your service."

Before I could produce a response to his disgusting ideas of romanticism, one of the employees approached us.

"Hey, Aria. Been awhile since I've seen you around here," Alan said, cheerfully. He was the teenage son of the owners, so he worked here every day after school. Though, I didn't know what school he went to since I'd never seen him at ours.

When I had first began coming here, he was taken aback by me, not drooling over me as I would expect. It was almost as if I was extremely interesting to him but over time, he's seemed to have gotten used to me.

He sent a curious glance towards Aleistor who was glaring at him but said nothing about it.

"Driving is hard sometimes," I stated nonchalantly. Alan frowned in confusion but after a moment, he chuckled and shook his head.

"So, your usual, I'm guessing?" I nodded.

"And for Mr. Chamber?" Aleistor cocked an eyebrow at him in confusion.

"I don't live under a rock," Alan scoffed.

"Do you have Earl Grey tea?" There were no menus at this cafe. The owners claimed it's a lot easier for a customer to ask for what they wanted and then decide whether or not they had the ingredients to make it.

"I believe we do," Alan replied after a second of thought.

"Then I'll have that. No cream. One sugar."

"Alright. Back in a minute." Alan left for the kitchen and left me alone with Aleistor again.

"So, are you going to that 'Back to School' party?" Aleistor asked after a moment of silence. I hadn't heard anything about that party since those idiots were talking by my locker.

"No. But if you're going, you should take Freckles with you. She'll appreciate it."

"Why don't you ever go to any parties? Your brothers always go. I'd think that they would drag you along with them."

"Claude doesn't want me to go. Sebastian always tries to drag me with him, although I'm pretty sure I'll be under house arrest after today. Not that I want to go anyways; parties aren't my thing."

"I still don't understand why they're so overprotective of you. I guess I can understand Claude, but Sebastian doesn't really make any sense."

"Well, if you weren't yelling in front of the entire student body that Ciel Phantomhive ' _caressed my face_ ', maybe I'd be in less danger of house arrest," I replied sardonically, rolling my eyes at him.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alan bringing our drinks over to us.

"Black coffee and an Earl Grey with one sugar," he calls out respectively as he put our drinks down. "Anything else I can get for you? We have some muffins and coffee cake in the back," he offers. Alan knows that I don't ever get food here, so I assume he's asking Aleistor and stay silent.

"No, thank you," Aleistor answers.

"Okay. Well, give me a call if you need anything," Alan says and after shooting me a small smile, goes over to another customer, notepad in hand. Aleistor scowls at his back and then immediately continues our conversation.

"He _did_ caress your face and I apologize if my ranting about it has gotten you into trouble. But, speaking of parties, don't you turn seventeen in April? The twenty-second right? Are you going to be doing anything?" I put the cup of coffee back down before I can get a sip of it. I was completely taken aback by the question and even more surprised that he knew when my birthday was. My eyes narrowed suspiciously at him.

"How do you even know when my birthday is? I've never told you it." Aleistor drank his tea with a cheerful smile on his face.

"You've told me it before." I frowned at him. There was absolutely no way that I consciously told him information about myself like that.

" **No**. _I didn't_." Aleistor sighed, realizing I wasn't going to fall for his terrible lie.

"Very well. I won't lie to my precious bird. I was in the attendance office once and I saw a file with your name on it, so I looked through it."

"You're disgusting," I spat before finally taking a sip of my coffee. Aleistor leaned towards me and swept a stray piece of hair back behind my ear.

"But that's what you love about me, right?" I immediately started to regret my decision of coming here with him. Maybe I should have taken a lecture from Claude. He was being disgusting and it was really starting to piss me off.

"My mother is planning on throwing me a birthday party,-" If it could even be called that. "-So I'll be celebrating it in London."

"Ooh, London? My third favorite place to be besides Paris and next to you, of course!"

"Shut up," I snapped, beginning to regret my decision more with each second that passed.

"Am I invited?" he asked excitedly and I couldn't stop the annoyance from appearing on my face.

"Of course not. Claude and Sebastian barely got an invitation."

"What?!" Aleistor whined. "How come?"

"Because I don't want you there." I answered tiredly, taking a long drink of my coffee.

"There's no need to be shy! Of course you want me to be there!" he bounced back quickly. "You should ask your mother if I can attend, but I was referring to your brothers. Surely a mother would want her own children to celebrate each other's birthdays?"

Why must people ask so many unnecessary questions? There was absolutely no way that my answer could affect his life in any way at all. Yet, he still wanted to know.

"If I tell you, you are going to swear to me that you won't ask any more questions," I acquiesced, sighing deeply.

Aleistor looked delighted. "See? Wasn't that easy? I always tell you that there's no reason to be so difficult."

"Swear," I repeat.

"I swear!"

"We all have different mothers," I explained in between sips of coffee. "My mother, in particular, is not fond of Claude or Sebastian and her family is even less fond of them."

Aleistor looked deep in thought for a minute, gently stirring his tea.

"I can't really say that I'm surprised…not only do you all have different last names, but you all are very… _different_. But if your mother dislikes your brothers so much, why do you live with them instead of her? And you said once that you _only_ live with _them_. What about _their_ mothers? What about your _father_? Where are all of them at?" I raised an eyebrow at him in extreme annoyance.

He noticed my change of expression and immediately stopped talking. "Oh. I did just swear, didn't I? I apologize. I was so overcome with wanting to know more about you I couldn't stop myself!"

I sighed heavily and reached into my tote bag, grabbing my wallet. I pulled out a five dollar bill and slapped it down on the table. Annoyance bordering on anger directed my movement and I was nearly to the door before Aleistor could react.

"Bye, Alan!" I called out before letting the door slam behind me.

"Aria?! Wait- Wait a second!" Aleister yelled behind me.

I waited impatiently by his car for him to finish. After a few seconds, he rushed out of the door and looked extremely relieved that I hadn't decided to walk home before he got to me. Taking the hint, he hurried to unlock the car and open the door for me then scrambled to the other side.

"Don't talk" was all I said.

Aleistor, for once in his life, listened to me and the ride back to my house was in complete silence.

Dread pooled in my stomach at the site of Claude's BMW in the driveway. I had completely forgotten about the argument I was about to have due to Aleistor. As much as I wanted to keep ignoring him, I wasn't raised to be completely rude. After I let myself out of the car I slowly turned around.

"Thanks… for the ride," I said, reluctantly. Just as I was about to turn and walk away, I remembered something.

"Oh, and I never told you that the three of us were living alone. Stay out of my files." Aleistor looked like he wanted to say something but before he could, the sound of a door banging open behind us cut him off. I groaned internally.

" _ **Aria Tamburlaine**_! Where in the hell have you been?!" It was Claude. Though I hadn't turned around yet, I would recognize his voice anywhere.

Aleistor's face soured. "Nice to see you too, Faustus," he called, ice biting at his tone.

Claude, who was marching towards me, stopped in his tracks and adjusted his glasses. It was almost as if he just noticed the car behind me.

Almost as if to spite Aleistor, Claude simply glanced at him before focusing his angry glare on me.

"What were you doing? Don't tell me you were hanging out with the likes of him. Don't you hate him?"

"Oh, don't be so _cruel,_ Aria! You don't have to lie to even your _dear brothers_ about our _relationship!_ " Aleistor squealed from the car. My eyebrow twitched in annoyance.

"What?" Claude asked suspiciously, his eyes darting from me to Aleistor.

"Wow, she really didn't tell you? Yes! Your dear little Aria has extremely _deep_ feelings for me. We just came back from a _date_ just now!" Rage boiled my blood. It took everything in me to not turn around and send him straight to Hell myself. Honestly, was he trying to get us both killed?! And he called it a _date_!

Claude did not look impressed.

I sent the accumulation of my rage in the form of a glare to Aleistor and quickly took hold on Claude's arm.

"Don't listen to that idiot. Let's just go inside," I muttered, pulling Claude with all my might until he finally relented and let himself be pulled along.

"Get lost, Aleistor! And stay out of my damn files!" I yell over my shoulder. I just barely catch him grin and wave happily before I turn back around.

I dragged Claude inside and slammed the door shut behind us. Sebastian, whom I could see from the living room, peeked over the couch to see what the ruckus was about.

"Oh. Aria's home." He grinned at me, but his face quickly changed into a disapproving glare.

I let go of Claude and walked tiredly into the living room. Claude followed behind me and I could feel his anger radiating from his body. It felt like I was being sent to a guillotine.

I sat in the chair across from Sebastian but Claude remained standing ominously behind him. I made myself comfortable in the chair, all the while bracing myself for the lecture that was bound to happen.

"Alright. I'm ready." I muttered after I had made myself comfortable.

"Sebastian." Claude's tone was pure ice. "You would never guess who she just came home with."

"Ooh! Can I guess?!" Sebastian asked excitedly. "Let's see… it wasn't that Phantomh-" Claude cut him off immediately. Apparently his question was rhetorical.

"Aleistor Chambers." Sebastian frowned.

"What? Why were you hanging out with that loser? Don't you hate him?" he asked.

"Apparently, they were on a _date_."

"A date?!" Sebastian spat in shock. "That's what he ditched practice for? What a slacker."

I sighed heavily. "It was _not_ a date! I didn't feel like dealing with you two and he offered to drive me home. We went to Cafe au Lait because I hadn't been there in a while and he annoyed the hell out of me and I only regret it even more now." Sebastian looked satisfied with my answer. After all, he was aware of how much Aleistor pestered me, but Claude continued to glare at me.

"We called you about seven times because you didn't tell us where you were going. We searched the entire school for you and because of all these _rumors_ about something happening to you at lunch, I feared the worst might have happened."

I rolled my eyes. "Well, whose fault is that? Are you now _blaming me_ that you worry unnecessarily about something that will _never_ happen again?" I snapped.

Sebastian's eyes widened. "Well, I'm getting out of here. Don't kill each other. I don't feel like cleaning up a mess," he interrupted before he slunk off into the kitchen.

Secretly, I wanted nothing more than to go and hide in the kitchen myself. I spoke without thinking and as a result of that indiscretion, the eyes of the person in front of me had begun to glow gold in rage. I almost thought I saw myself having my throat ripped out in the reflection of them.

"Worry _unnecessarily_? Something that will _never happen again_?" Claude laughed coldly under his breath.

"ARE YOU **STUPID**?! TELL ME, ARE YOU HONESTLY AN IDIOT!?" he exploded. "YOU ARE SO GODDAMN _UNGRATEFUL_! AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR YOU, THIS IS WHAT I GET IN RETURN?! _THIS?!_ " His hand gripped the couch violently, almost as if he was physically stopping himself from moving towards me. I've only made Claude this angry a handful of times and every time, I nearly trembled in fear. The worst time was when he had nothing to hold himself back and Sebastian had to physically pull him away from me and it was almost two days before he could look at me without becoming enraged enough to kill me.

"YOU ARE A DANGER TO YOURSELF AND OTHERS! WHAT PART OF THAT DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?! I AM DOING MY _BEST_ TO PROTECT YOU FROM _YOURSELF,_ YET YOU STAND THERE AND TELL ME WITH THIS _ANNOYED_ LOOK ON YOUR FACE THAT I'M WORRYING UNNECESSARILY AND THAT I'M _BOTHERING_ YOU!" The muscles in his arm have begun to visibly strain and the veins running along his hand have started to protrude out. If I don't calm him down soon, Sebastian's going to need to step in.

"I'm sorry." I finally manage to say in as firm a tone as possible. If I said it flippantly I would probably be murdered on the spot.

"What," Claude bit, so snappy it almost didn't sound like a question.

"I'm sorry," I repeated. "I said something stupid so I'm apologizing. Thank you for worrying about me." Claude removed his hand from the couch and a hand shaped indention was left on the cushion. Although he had seemed to calm down, he was still glaring at me.

"About that _rumor_ you heard… Most of it's probably not true. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and bumped into somebody who was paying even less attention. He knocked me over and then helped me up and apologized. He didn't do anything, he just plucked a piece of garbage out of my hair. That's all that happened, I swear."

"Oh, that's all?" Sebastian asked, leaning in the doorway of the kitchen. Apparently he had deemed it safe to return.

"The way everyone was going on about it, they made it seem like he jumped on you, groped you, and then you made out." He poked out his tongue and pointed to it. " _With_ tongue."

" _What_?" The rumors got that crazy so quickly? Sebastian nodded his head, then smiled in amusement.

"This one over here-" He motioned towards Claude with his thumb. "-Was about ready to hunt him down and rip him to pieces. Poor kid's probably too scared to come to school tomorrow. Ah well, if I see him, I'll let him know he's alright. What does he look like again?"

"His hair is dark blue, almost black, and his eyes are really blue. He has this weird air about him. You'll know him if you see him."

Sebastian smirked, though I wasn't sure why. "Weird air about him, huh? Alright, I guess I'll have to see for myself," he muttered, rubbing his chin.

Although the tense atmosphere is settling, it's still odd to be having this light hearted conversation. As if realizing that, Sebastian spoke up again.

"Hey, Claude. I'm hungry. Let's go get something to eat." Claude clears his throat and noticeably avoids eye contact with me. He didn't respond to Sebastian but went straight to door, threw on his coat, and left immediately.

Sebastian and I watched the door shut behind him.

"Do you have a death wish, Aria?" Sebastian asks tiredly. "Honestly, talking to Claude like that, not even I can get him that angry and this is the _fourth_ time you've done it!" I nibble on my lip silently. Sebastian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Try not to do it again, alright? There's some stuff for you in the fridge if you get hungry." He started for the door.

"Oh, and answer your phone sometimes, alright? Claude's not the only one who worries," he said over his shoulder before leaving and locking the door behind him.

I breathe out a sigh.

This day has been exhausting.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading! I don't have much to say this time- thank you guys for your continued support! If you're enjoying the story be sure to let me know! See you all next time! x Things are really starting to kick off!**


	7. Roll the Dice

**ROLL THE DICE**

" _What? How is going to a party punishment?"_

* * *

"I'm not going," Ciel snapped, for the umpteenth time that afternoon.

It was Alois' tradition to get everyone to come to his apartment on Saturdays. This Saturday was no exception, except for the absences of Elizabeth and Finny. Agni was also absent, claiming he had to work.

"Ciel! You have to!" Alois pleaded. "If you miss this party, you're gonna regret it for the rest of your life!"

Bardroy, who was stretched across the couch with his legs resting on Meyrin's thighs, spoke up.

"As much as I'd love to disagree with Alois, this party is gonna be bitching. I mean I'm going, so it has to be, right?" he finished with a grin.

Meyrin laughed loudly. "As if anyone cares that you're gonna be there, Bard," she commented snidely. "Sebastian and Claude are gonna be there, so I bet the entire student body is gonna show up. At least that's the only reason I'm going."

"Question," Soma spoke, raising his hand. "What does bitching mean?" He was ignored.

"What?! You mean you're not going because your boyfriend asked you to go with him?!" Bardroy shouted incredulously.

"Going with you is just a plus," Meyrin offered.

"She's just going so that she can ogle Sebastian," Alois scoffed.

"Shh!" Meyrin laughed, putting a finger to her lips. Bard frowned, although he was already fully aware of his girlfriend's crush.

"Who's even hosting it?" Ciel asked. Alois looked at him with wide eyes.

"Only the legendary ADRIAN CREVAN!" He shouted excitedly.

"Holy shit, really?!" Meyrin cried. "He's like the most famous alumni at our school!"

Ciel's face had soured. "That guy is the creepiest person I have ever met."

Alois looked offended. "He's eccentric!" He corrected.

"He told me that I was born to be seen in a coffin," Ciel deadpanned.

"I keep trying to tell you, Ciel, that's just his way of complimenting you!" Alois argued and Ciel just rolled his eyes.

"I heard that this party is specifically for Claude and Sebastian, too, because it's their last year of high school and everything."

Soma, who had gone into the kitchen to get a snack, came back to sit on the floor near them happily nursing a bag of oreos. Alois noticed this immediately.

"Hey! Don't just sit down to an entire bag of my fucking oreos! Take a few out and buy some of your own!" he snapped, snatching the bag from Soma's hands. Ironically, he sat back down on his beanbag chair and began eating out of the bag himself.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Bardroy said suddenly. "There have been some rumors going around- besides the great ones about you, Ciel- that Aria is supposed to be going." He wiggles his eyebrows at both Ciel and Alois.

"Really?" Alois asks, intrigued.

"Well, they are rumors but I've really been hearing them, yeah. Apparently a few people overheard their conversation yesterday."

 **…**

Friday was "avoid-Aleistor-at-all-costs" day. I was worried about what Claude might do if he saw us together and I was even more worried about what _I'd_ do if he tried to talk to me.

I'd been the first one in Mr. Spears class because I'd gone straight there when I got to school. Sure, I may not have had the notes from yesterday with me since they were in my locker and been the target of Mr. Spears wrath, but sacrifices had to be made. I'd even made the smart decision of going to my locker after third period because I thought Aleistor may have caught on to me and gone to wait outside my classroom before the next period started.

The only problem was lunch. I hadn't thought of a way to avoid Aleistor yet. Sure, I could just skip it completely and even go home early, but he always waited outside my classroom for me.

"Aria?"

We still had the same idiot substitute teacher, so I could probably get away with leaving class early and going home. No. I had a test to take in Physics that I couldn't miss. Dammit. Well maybe if I-

"Aria!" Freckles elbows me in the ribs.

"Ow! What?!" I cry out in shock.

"You've been completely spacing out for the last five minutes!" she chastises.

"Oh. Sorry, I've been… thinking about something," I mumble, looking down at my blank piece of sketchbook paper. I had intended to get some drawing done but my focus was elsewhere.

"Thinking? About what?" Freckles, who had been using this class to get homework done, finished highlighting a line of text with bright orange and looked up at me expectantly. It was an odd thing. I'd only known her for a few days yet her extremely overbearing presence had quickly become a normal appearance in my life. Though, I still wasn't convinced that she wanted nothing from me.

"How to avoid Aleistor."

Freckles giggled. "Trouble in paradise? You two have a fight?" she jested. A shiver crept up my spine at the thought. _Disgusting_.

"Like I said, we aren't dating. But, I'm in no mood to deal with him right now."

Freckles hummed in a way that told me she didn't believe me at all. "Well… Seeing as you've allowed me to sit next to you for the past week, I figure I should do something for you." I began packing away my sketchpad and charcoals.

"So, I'll go tell him that you weren't feeling well and went home early. Then, I'll convince him to go keep you company all alone at your house. There's no way that he won't fall for that. After he leaves, I'll meet you in the cafeteria and we can eat together."

What did I have to lose?

"Why not?" I respond tiredly.

Once again, the bell rings and Freckles is not at all prepared to leave. The rest of class eagerly files out and soon it's just Freckles and I.

Though, a shuffling noise behind me quickly argued the opposite. I turned around, curious as to who it could be and was surprised to see a head of familiar blue hair.

"Okay, I'm going!" Freckles called, drawing my attention back to her. I nodded to empty space as she was already rushing out the door.

I turned back around only to meet eyes with Ciel, who was already looking at me. His cheeks flamed pink and he avoided eye contact immediately. I strangely found myself looking away as well. I could hear the shuffling of his things as he packed them into his bag and soon the firm thump of his shoes on the tile as he made his way to the door. When he reached the door, he turned and nodded politely towards me before making his exit.

Three minutes passed by quickly and I was growing extraordinarily tired of waiting for Freckles to return. Five more minutes went by and I was picking up my things and heading to the door. I had no idea what Freckles was doing or why exactly it was taking so long but I'd rather spend my lunch period in the library than in a classroom.

Just as I was about to put my hand on the handle, the door suddenly flew open and a flustered looking Freckles stood in the doorway.

"Aria!" she breathed, readjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder. She had been holding it by the strap as if she ran here.

I frowned at her appearance. "What happened?"

"I-" She paused to take a breath. "I got him to leave. But… He… uh-he…" My impatience from waiting ten minutes for her return diminished what little patience I had left.

"What?!" I snapped. "Spit it out!"

"He only agreed to go check up on you if I agreed to be his plus one to the party on Saturday. I-I tried to refuse, I didn't see what that had to do with anything, but he refused to go anywhere unless I agreed! I-I'm so sorry! I know that you two are a thing and it's so rude of me to butt in on your relationship by going to a party with him! I think this is some weird way of trying to get back at you because you said you guys fought so don't fall for it! I don't even like him like that and even if I did I would never-" This girl could compete to win the Guinness World Record for most words spoken in the shortest amount of time. When I said spit it out, I did not expect her to word vomit all over me. But considering how much time she had been spending with me lately, I suppose I should have.

"It's fine," I interrupted. Then, a frown formed on my face as I processed what she had said.

"He didn't believe you at all, then," I sighed.

"W-What? Why not?" Freckles sputtered.

"He's trying to apologize to me in a roundabout way. That's what he does. Are you sure that he left? Did you see him leave?" I peered down both sides of the hallway.

"No… I didn't see him leave. But, he went the other way towards the parking lot!" I sighed again. Regardless, the bell was going to ring soon and I didn't want to be the cause of her not getting the chance to eat. I motioned for her to move out of the doorway and started walking towards the cafeteria.

"But, wait! How is asking me to a party with him apologizing to you?" Freckles asked, walking next to me.

"I asked if he would take you. I thought you might want to go," I answered, avoiding her gaze.

She gasped and threw her arms around me in makeshift hug. "Thank you! Thank you!

Thank you! I'm so flattered that you actually thought of me! I've been wanting to go to this party so bad but I don't really know that many people and it'd be so awkward if I went alone! I thought that maybe you'd take me with you if you went, but then you said you didn't want to go so I gave up on it!" she squealed excitedly. "This is so great! I never thought the day would come where you thought of me as a friend! I'm so happy!"

My eyebrow twitched in irritation. "Who said anything about being friends?"

Freckles deflated immediately. "W-what…? But… getting me something I really wanted as a surprise is something only a friend would do, right?"

My head was honestly starting to hurt from the amount of talking she was doing. "I didn't put that much thought into it. He kept bothering me about going with him, so I suggested he went with you instead. That's all." Freckles pouted in silence.

Since I was walking slightly ahead of her, I opened the cafeteria door for her. However, as she walked past she paused and turned to me. "Even if you say we aren't friends… I think we are. So, I'm going to believe that you did what you did for me, even if you didn't think about it," she said firmly.

I rolled my eyes at her. I could feel the stares on us as we walked to our table. Ever since Ciel had fallen on me, people had been showing me way more attention than I would have liked.

"Believe whatever you want. You're the one insisting to hang around me." Somehow I felt a twinge of guilt for saying that to her.

I sat down at our table and without Aleistor there, it was much quieter than I had gotten used to. But, I preferred the quiet to his usual rowdiness anyways.

Freckles had gone to the lunch line and because we were so late, returned fairly quickly. She began eating without saying a word. The twinge that I felt earlier was getting stronger.

Suddenly, the cafeteria erupted into hushed whispers of excitement. My mind instantly went to my brothers but since Freckles and I were so late, they couldn't possibly be entering now. The hushed whispers only got louder.

Freckles, apparently just noticing the commotion, looked up. Her cheeks flamed bright red and her eyes became larger than saucers as she noticed something behind me. Despite her shock, I found no desire to turn around. If that was her reaction to whoever it was, it couldn't possibly go well for me.

"Aria…~" Sebastian's sing-songy voice rang out from directly behind me. I could feel him leaning over me to make me even more uncomfortable.

"What do you want, Sebastian?" I snapped grouchily. I hated when he talked to me at school.

"It's not what I want; it's what Claude wants," Sebastian whispered, knowing that the entire cafeteria was straining to hear what he said.

"Well, tell Claude he can wait until _after_ school. You're making a scene and I hate it." Sebastian moved until his face was next to mine.

"Claude has been scary lately and it's your fault," he pouted. "Take responsibility."

I pushed his cheek away from me and turned to face him. "I still say: _what_ does he want? " Sebastian glanced at an incredibly flustered Freckles behind me. He seemed pleased that it wasn't Aleistor.

"Come sit with us for a minute."

Irritation bubbled inside of me. "If you wanted me to sit with you, you could have told me this morning instead of making a scene," I grinded out between clenched teeth.

Sebastian smiled brightly at me. "Claude needs to talk to you about something and I'd rather not make him more upset. So…"

I sighed in frustration. "Fine." I picked up my bag and slung it over my shoulder. "I'll be back in a minute," I said to Freckles. Sebastian waited for me then we walked together to his table.

There were many reasons that I never sat with my brothers at lunch. One reason may be the way Victoria glared at me as I made my way over. Another reason may be that Sebastian always annoyed me whenever he talked to me at school. He was incredibly touchy-feely and lovey-dovey and it creeped me out. The downside to not sitting with them was that I had little opportunity to talk with Angela and Ash. They greeted me as I grew nearer.

"Hello, Aria," Ash began.

"It's been some time since we last spoke," Angela continued.

"We missed you," Ash finished.

They moved so that I could sit in between them. The two of them were an oddity, despite their similarities: albino like features and snow white hair; they weren't actually related in the slightest. Yet, they did everything together, finished each other's sentences and in the rare times they weren't together, they were practically the same person.

Surprisingly, Grell wasn't sitting with them today but he's not as much of an idiot as he may seem. It was obvious that Claude was in a terrible mood and with his flamboyant personality, his life was at risk.

Hell, my life might be at risk. Claude hadn't spoken to me directly since our dispute and he almost never spoke to me at school. He hadn't said a word to me since I had sat down and Victoria was glaring holes into the side of my face. She probably knew that Claude's bad mood was my fault.

Sebastian cleared his throat and I looked over to him. "Claude and I finally agreed on your punishment."

Annoyance flared. This really couldn't have waited until we got home?!

"Punishment? For what, exactly? I didn't do anything." Sebastian narrowed his eyes at me and I realized that I was treading on extremely thin ice.

"Oh? Then let me inform you- you're grounded. But because we thought you might complain about that, we decided to let you off with a punishment." He still didn't say why but I knew better than to ask again.

"You're going to the party."

Even Victoria looked confused.

"What? How is going to a party punishment?" I asked in complete confusion.

"It's punishment because we both know you'd rather be anywhere else. Claude came up with the idea. If you have any complaints, you should take it up with him," Sebastian informed with a bit more sharpness in his tone.

I glanced over to Claude at the mention of his name and he was staring at me blankly. It was easy to tell when Claude was in a terrible mood. He didn't usually express any emotions that he was feeling, but when he was in a terrible mood, everything about him was cold. His gaze was cold and unnerving as if he was chanting hellish curses in his mind as he looked at you, he spoke not a single word that was unnecessary, and avoided as much contact with others as he could, and somehow while doing that, he made it seem that you were constantly walking over thin ice in his presence which, if broken, would swallow you whole with hellfire.

My gaze quickly moved back to Sebastian. "Fine. Is that all?" I responded, tiredly. In truth, I was nearly boiling over with irritation but I valued my life too much to complain in front of Claude. Maybe I could persuade Sebastian to talk Claude out of it later.

Sebastian smiled brightly at me and I could tell that he was glad I hadn't protested in front of Claude. "Yes, you can go back to your table now. Nice talking to you."

I stood back up, completely ready to leave, when a gentle pull on my sleeve caught my attention.

"You're leaving already?" Angela asked.

"Stay for a while longer," Ash continued.

"We don't see you enough," Angela finished.

Their eyes were sad and it was always a pain to turn them down on anything, but I could still feel both Claude's icy gaze and Victoria's fiery glare.

I gave them both my best smile. "I have someone waiting for me right now. Sorry, we'll definitely talk later though." They nodded solemnly, and I quickly made my escape.

Freckles seemed to have calmed down in the past few moments and she was shooting off questions before I even got to my seat. The cafeteria had resumed its usual clatter once Sebastian had sat back down at his own table and only a few curious eyes followed me.

I was only half listening to Freckles as I dropped my bag and sat down in my seat with a huff.

"Aria! The suspense is killing me! What was that about?! Are you even listening to me?! I nearly had a heart attack… my goodness!"

"Guess I'm going to the party," I sighed in frustration.

"What?!" Freckles cried. "Why?!"

"Claude has a sick sense of humor."

 **…**

"They really made all that commotion just to talk about the party?" Ciel asked curiously. Sebastian standing up in the middle of lunch simply to go talk to his sister had caused so much distress within his fangirls that nearly everyone had stopped talking about Ciel's accident with Aria. Nearly.

Bard shrugged. "I guess. That's what people were saying they were talking about and a lot of people were saying that Claude's been in a shit mood lately too."

"Maybe that's got something to do with the party then?" Alois suggested.

Bard shrugged and returned to staring up at the ceiling, apparently done with contributing to the conversation.

The group was silent for a moment, all lost in their own thoughts, until Alois suddenly started. "CIEL!" he cried, reaching out and smacking his blue haired friend.

"Ow! What?!" Ciel snapped, rubbing his reddened forearm.

"You never fucking told us what that whole thing with Sebastian was! You were probably hoping we'd forget about it, weren't you?!" Alois yelled. Ciel's face heated. He had, in fact, been hoping his friends had forgotten.

"I already told you I don't know what it was about," Ciel muttered tiredly.

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Alois snapped.

"He must have said something, yes?" Mey-rin agreed, her face had gone red at the mere mention of Sebastian's name.

"I am most curious about what the most popular person at our school had to say to you, Ciel," Soma added, scooting closer to him.

Ciel sighed.

...

The last period of the day had just finished and Ciel was glad that he had the house to himself this weekend. The last two weeks of school had been so hectic and he was looking forward to the peace and quiet. On top of the gossip and rumors about him and Aria, Elizabeth had been ignoring him since their phone call and shooting him dirty looks. An unhappy Elizabeth meant for an even unhappier Finny who had been actively ignoring him since that day. Soma had been bothering him every day asking him to back out of the bet, but Ciel's pride wouldn't allow him to even if he wanted to, especially since Alois had been looking so smug lately.

While his problems and building headache occupied Ciel's mind, he mindlessly walked to his locker and began to put his things away. Though he hadn't been paying much attention to his surroundings, he began to feel a strong presence grow nearer to him.

"Hey," a voice suddenly spoke. Ciel turned in confusion to the voice. His eye grew wide as he saw who it was. A cold sweat began to form on his skin as reasons for the person's presence ran through his mind. Was he going to be threatened? Beat up? Killed and buried in a ditch for touching Sebastian's precious sister?

"Are you Ciel Phantomhive?" Sebastian Michaelis asked. Ciel's heart palpitated when he realized that he was being asked a question.

"Uh… y-yes?" he sputtered. He had stuttered. Ciel Phantomhive did not stutter.

Sebastian smirked. "Strange air about you, indeed," he murmured.

Ciel's brain was having trouble keeping up with the conversation. What on Earth was he talking about? "I...uh-what?"

Sebastian's smirk grew wider. "So, are you just a giant klutz or were you aiming to be on top of my little sister?"

Was Ciel breathing? He wasn't sure that he was. He was embarrassed at the way he was acting. He wasn't one of Sebastian's fangirls. He wasn't even attracted to him. His presence had shocked him and now it was overwhelming him. He couldn't really tell if Sebastian was angry or genuinely nonchalant. In any event, he struggled to pull himself together.

"I… a-apologize, but it sincerely was an accident," Ciel responded in a firm voice.

Sebastian raised an eyebrow as his smirk grew even wider. "Don't worry about it. You're alright," he said vaguely, patting Ciel on the head once before walking away.

Ciel watched him leave in complete confusion.

What the hell was that?

 **…**

"He was asking about the incident," Ciel finally said.

"Was he angry with you?" Alois asked, frowning.

"Ooh! I've never seen him angry!" Mey-rin squealed excitedly.

"I don't know!" Ciel snapped. "He asked if it was on purpose or not and mumbled something about a strange air. He was smirking the whole time, so I couldn't tell."

"Then he patted you on the head!" Alois interjected. He had seen that part of the conversation.

Ciel groaned in annoyance. "Yes, then he did that."

"HE WAS SMIRKING AT YOU?!" Mey-rin exploded. She was dangerously close to getting a nosebleed from the excitement.

"It's not like it was a pleasant feeling," Ciel said, rolling his eyes. He had been seriously confused and disturbed by the look on Sebastian's face. "I genuinely couldn't tell if he was upset or not or what his purpose was at all."

"Have you washed your hair yet?! I want to touch where his hand was!" Mey-rin shouted.

Ciel gave up.

* * *

 **I would give up too, honestly.**

 **Anyways, very very little feedback over the last 3 chapters... the views are going up but hardly anyone is following, favoriting, or reviewing. Please, if you're enjoying this story let me know in any of those ways! If you don't, how will I know that the majority of you aren't just reading- hating the story- and leaving? From here on out the game is officially starting! I'm dangerously close to where I am with the story again, and I want to make sure I write the chapters, you guys read it and like it and we actually finish this thing!**

 **But thank you to everyone who has clicked on this story and deemed it good enough to keep reading and a huge thank you to the few that have actually followed, favorited, and shared their thoughts. It's you guys that are keeping me inspired :)**

 **Get ready to party!**


	8. Snakes and Ladders

**SNAKES AND LADDERS**

" _Hop on."_

* * *

"I'm not going," Ciel had said. In fact, he had said it a great number of times. _"I'm not going."_

So, could someone please explain what exactly he was doing walking up to Adrian Crevan's front door?

"Ooh. I can't believe we're actually _here_!" Mey-rin squeaked. Her and Alois were, in fact, _too_ excited for this party. They were both showing far more skin than could ever be considered decent. Bard had already lit a cigarette and was blowing out smoke to soothe his growing irritation. The street had been so busy that they had to wait half an hour to even find a parking spot. Unfortunately, the spot they saw was stolen from them which caused almost twenty more minutes of waiting. Throughout the whole time, Alois and Mey-rin were going on and on about how excited they were to see Claude, Sebastian and _possibly_ Aria. Needless to say, Elizabeth was also extremely annoyed. Finny and Soma had tagged along as well, though both of them being socialites, they were more excited for the actual party itself.

The only people missing were Agni - because he had to work - and the triplets - because being around too many people made them sick.

"Still, this house is… a little…" Elizabeth began, trailing off as she tilted her head back. The Victorian mansion that they were standing outside of was more Gothic than traditional. The white brick had turned grey with age and the roof had been redone in black and dark grey. The front door was a blood red color and the whole scene was completely opposite of the newer modern houses in the area.

"Well, it's not cute at all!"

To make the scene creepier, not a single soul was loitering about outside the house and there was no loud booming music to be heard.

"So...which one of us is going to knock?" Mey-rin asked excitedly. She had put on her glasses, claiming that she would need them to see Sebastian as best as she could and they were getting foggy from her flushed cheeks.

"I'm not going to," Ciel proclaimed. He was standing at the back of the group afterall.

"Bard! You're the closest! You knock!" Alois demanded, pushing Bard closer to the door. The movement came as a surprise to Bard and his cigarette almost fell out of his mouth as a result.

"Hey! _Watch it_! You tryin' to light the place on fire before we even go in?!" Bard snapped, taking the cigarette out himself and smothering it under his shoe.

"My _bad_! Now hurry up and-"

" _Alright!_ I'll fuckin' knock, okay?" he huffed, irritation mounting. He was all for a good party, but this was just starting to be ridiculous.

He rapped his knuckles against the bright red wood.

...

The door creaked open slowly after a few seconds, and as it opened, bright light and loud music poured out. A figure stood in the doorway, clad in a black hoodie, black pants, and black boots.

"Hihihihihi~…" The figure giggled under his hood. "What a pleasant surprise… I didn't know that the _darling_ Aria Tamburlaine in the flesh would be showing up to a party hosted by little ol' me," he grinned.

I had met the Undertaker quite a few times before. He and my brothers often spoke together. He was a _very_ strange man but eccentric at best.

I tried to push down my irritation to greet him properly. "Hello, it's nice to see you again, Undertaker."

He smirked and dropping his hood, pushed up his bangs with his hand, revealing the startlingly inhuman green of his eyes and the full stretch of the scar that ran across his face. "Hihi~… Please, call me Adrian, won't you? No need to be so formal." He lifted an arm hidden under baggy sleeves and tucked a lock of my hair that had escaped my bun behind my ear. His hand gently ran down my jaw and his long, black nails softly grazed against my skin.

"Adrian, it's nice to see you." Sebastian spoke up from beside me and I could practically _feel_ the tension radiating from him. The Undertaker's gaze shifted over to him and then to Claude behind me.

"Hihi~… Indeed, it is nice to see you two as well, Michaelis, Faustus." He nodded to them both, respectively. "Well, I suppose we have some things to talk about. Come, come."

The front hallway of Adrian's house was blocked off from the rest of the house with a door and textured glass on the top half of the walls, so I could see people moving around in the next room. He held the front door open as we walked in and gestured with a hand covered in the overly long sleeve of his hoodie to the staircase.

Claude and Sebastian began to walk up first but as I took a step onto the stairs they both turned around to look at me.

"Oh. Sorry, Aria, we have to talk about some important things, so stay down here," Sebastian announced. The anger that had been mounting increased tenfold.

" _What?_ " I snapped. "You dragged me along to this party and now you're just going to _leave me_ down here?"

"You're a big girl, you'll be fine," Sebastian jested which only served to piss me off even more.

A hand touched my shoulder gently. "All of my guests are _very_ nice. I'm sure they'll all behave themselves hihi…" Adrian giggled, squeezing past me on the steps. I stood in the entrance frowning at them as they disappeared upstairs. Seriously, what was the point in forcing me to come along?

Suddenly, a wild laugh boomed down from upstairs surprising me.

I eyed the door behind me, wondering if they would realize if I simply walked back home. But, even if I did manage, I'd probably end up pissing Claude off again and he was only just recently back to relative normalcy. I sighed in frustration. They didn't even say if they were coming back down.

As I continued to debate whether or not I should go into the main room or not, the sound of a fist on wood rang out. I rolled my eyes.

 _Great. Am I supposed to be a greeter now?_

With a huff, I walked towards the door and swung it open.

"Aria!" Freckles squealed in surprise.

"What are you- why are _you_ the one answering the door?" she asked, pinching her eyebrows together in confusion.

 _What were the odds of running into her?_

"Under- _Adrian_ had something he had to go do. Although, I don't intend to-" I stopped as I realized that Freckles eyes had gone wide as saucers once again.

"You- You're _friends_ with him?" she gasped. Behind her, a figure squeezed into the doorframe, an irritated look on his face from being unable to enter for the last few minutes.

"Who are you talking to- oh." Aleistor's eyes brightened as he saw me and a smirk tugged at his lips. "Fancy meeting _you_ here. Friends with whom?" he asked instead.

"I'm not friends with him," I answered, ignoring Aleistor completely.

"Adrian Crevan!" Freckles squealed, whipping around to Aleistor and then back to me so fast I wondered how she didn't get whiplash.

"I don't even know why you're just assuming that," I mumbled, rolling my eyes. I expected them to take my answer and move on, but after a long silence stretched and they stood staring at me with expectant looks on their faces, I realized they were waiting for a more in depth explanation.

I sighed. "Well, first of all, I don't see what my friendship with anyone has to do with _either_ of you. But if you _must_ know, it's something I'm _sure_ you've heard about. Sebastian and Claude talk to him a lot and I've met him a few times. That's it."

Aleistor looked skeptical but Freckles perked up. "Does that mean the three of them are talking _right now_?" I struggled to not glance at the steps behind me as I cursed the three of them for leaving me without clear instructions. I didn't know if it was okay for me to tell people that they were together or where they were, so to be on the safe side, I huffed and threw open the door to the main space.

"I don't where they ran off to. Sebastian and Claude just left after dragging me all the way here. Let's stop standing here before someone else knocks."

...

Bardroy knocked again only to receive no response once again.

"Aye, are we s'posed to be knockin'? This is a party isn't it? Couldn't we just go on in?" he asked, turning back to his group of friends.

Alois frowned. "No, I heard from someone that you are absolutely not allowed to enter unless you knock and Adrian lets you in."

"So, what happens if you do?" Finny asked, his eyes widening in fear. Adrian Crevan was the type of man to have so many wild rumors about him that they almost seemed like a legend and the man himself a phantom. The house alone was already giving off weird vibes.

"I don't know," Alois snapped, growing more irritated by the second. He would not miss out on the most legendary party of his social career. "Nobody ever has. "

"So, what are we supposed to do? Wait out here all night?" Elizabeth asked, rubbing her bare arms with her hands. "It's cold out here." Finnian, ever the gentleman, quickly took off his jean jacket and wrapped it around Elizabeth's shoulders. "Oh, thank you."

Ciel watched the display and had to force himself to not scoff out loud.

"For the love of-" He muttered under his breath and stomped over to the front door. He turned the handle and was surprised to feel that it was unlocked.

"Ciel!"

" _Hey!_ "

He pulled the handle and the door swung open, revealing a pale yellow light and low thumping music. He peeked inside and was relieved to see that the creep was nowhere to be seen.

"There's nobody here. Come on."

He walked inside, not bothering to wait and see if his friends were following him. You'd think they'd be happier that they could get into the party, so why was Ciel the one who was fearlessly walking in first?

"Ugh, Jesus, Ciel," Alois groaned, but Ciel could tell he still eagerly walked into the house. "If we get yelled at, I'm blaming it entirely on you. Maybe he'll actually put you in a coffin."

"I agree!" Meyrin piped up, walking into the house. "The blaming part, not the coffin part."

"That's so distasteful, Alois," Elizabeth mumbled angrily.

"If you're so unhappy, why don't you just go home, Elizabeth? Last time I checked, nobody invited you to tag along anyways." Elizabeth huffed and Finny patted her shoulder and walked into the house around her. After a few seconds, they were all gathered in the foyer of Adrian Crevan's house. Ciel surely was not going to be the first of his friends to enter the actual party if he could help it.

"I wonder if he's upstairs?" Soma said suddenly, attracting everyone's attention. They hadn't even noticed the dark staircase to their left.

"Should we try calling him?" Finny asked.

"You call him, Ciel," Alois instructed.

"What?!" Ciel snapped.

"He knows you and like I said, he likes you. Just- _call him,_ " Alois snapped, growing impatient.

"Why did I even agree to go with you guys? I've never been more annoyed in my life," Ciel muttered under his breath.

Sighing, he walked over to the stairs and looked up them. It was pitch black up there and the landing looked like it led to an abyss.

"Adrian?" Ciel called. Why was he actually doing this?

He turned towards his friends and shrugged.

"Call _louder_ , Ciel. How on earth is he supposed to hear you if he is actually up there?" Alois snapped in exasperation. He was so close to being in the party, he was tempted to just walk through the doors and pay whatever consequence later.

Ciel huffed. "Adrian?!" he yelled. "Are you up there?!"

Nothing.

"Let's just go in. I don't think he's up there," Ciel sighed, turning around.

"Hihihi~~ if it isn't my favorite little earl." A voice whispered behind him. Ciel felt chills run up his spine and the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

Ciel turned back around slowly.

"Adrian," he acknowledged.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Adrian asked, grinning in the pitch black darkness. Ciel literally could not see anything besides the whites of his eyes and his teeth as he grinned. It was as if the _Chesire Cat_ was floating in front of him rather than a flesh and bone man.

"My friends were looking forward to your party but since the host wasn't around…" Ciel trailed off, letting the silence speak for him.

"I see. My apologies, I have some business to take care of. Quite urgent business, I'm afraid. You'll have to introduce me to the little Earl's friends at a later date." Ciel saw movement in the pitch blackness.

" _Please_ , enjoy your time."

And then he disappeared without a sound.

Ciel ignored the chills that ran down his entire body. He swore he'd never met anyone more creepy in his lifetime than Adrian Crevan.

"Woo! Way to go Ciel!" Meyrin cheered, wasting no time in wrapping her arm around Bard's wrist and dragging him inside the party. Alois went in after them, cheering as well. Hannah soundlessly walked in after them. To be honest, Ciel had forgotten she had even come along.

"Much thanks, Ciel" Soma said, then he too entered the party.

"He's _so_ creepy," Elizabeth stated, disgust in her tone. For once, Ciel had to agree completely.

"Come on, Ciel. Let's go in," Finny said.

Oh, how he wanted nothing more than to go back through the front door and go home. But at this point, his sacrifices would mean absolutely nothing if he didn't at least go inside. So, he begrudgingly walked down the steps and entered the main room behind Elizabeth and Finny.

…

Two hours into the party, Alois finally set his eyes on his prize. He was surprised; he honestly hadn't thought she would be here.

But there she was, Aria Tamburlaine, talking to that boyish looking girl again and of all people, Aleistor Chamber.

He searched the room for his competition. _Ciel._

He was still in the front room conversing with someone they used to have a class with and Elizabeth was hanging around him. For the moment, anyways. Good. She would keep him distracted.

Oh.

Wait...

The girl and Aleistor walked away and Aria was suddenly alone.

Alois glanced over at Ciel again to make sure he was preoccupied.

Now was his chance.

…

"I still can't believe Claude of all people would force his little sister to come to a party. Weren't you _just_ telling me that he's the one who's against parties?"

"Well, believe it because it's the truth," I snapped.

"She didn't want to come, remember, Aleistor?" Freckles argued on my behalf.

"I know that. But I'm saying is it really just for punishment? I thought you said he was really pissed off with you and I mean he seemed really angry the other day. He completely ignored me! And he lets you off with just dragging you to a party you don't want to be at? And then he's not even _down here_?"

" _Aleistor_ ," I snapped.

"What?"

" _Shut up_. I'm still pissed off with you in case you hadn't noticed. And in case it still hasn't gotten through your head, I don't want to be here and you're pissing me off even more. Go do something and get away from me."

"Ouch," Aleistor winced, holding a hand up to his heart. "Extra poisonous today. Let's leave the princess alone for a bit, Freckles. I'll introduce you to some people."

"Okay… Aria, are you gonna be okay alone?" Freckles asked. Her concern was strange.

"I'll be just peachy. Go with him." She looked hesitant. Don't tell me she was still worried about the two of us dating? She probably made up some theory that I was secretly angry that I had Aleistor come to the party with her instead of myself.

"But-" she tried.

" _Go."_ I smiled, a dangerous _"you're getting on my last nerve"_ smile, to get my point across.

She still looked hesitant and chewed on her lip as she walked away, glancing at me once again before she rounded the corner and left my sight.

I should have left when I had a chance. Maybe I could still go before Claude and Sebastian got down here. It wasn't a half bad idea.

Just as I pushed off the counter behind me, a hand reached out and grasped my arm. I turned, my mouth ready to hurl insults, but as a name registered in my mind, I found myself frowning instead.

"Hey," Alois smirked, tottering in his place. Was he drunk? It wasn't like The Undertaker was purposefully serving alcohol to a bunch of minors. Naturally, it was a big party and I've seen at least 5 people with drinks in their hands but even so, how could he have had enough to be drunk already?

"What do you want?" I snapped, wrenching my arm out of his grasp.

"Ehh… I don't know, your brother maybe?"

Suddenly irritated beyond belief, I turned away and was about to start walking when his hand reached out again.

"Listen, I don't want anything to do with you. If you want Claude, get him yourself," I seethed.

"You really can't take a joke, wow," he muttered. His hand pulled me towards him and I planted my feet firmly into the ground to keep from moving.

"I want you, idiot. I thought I made that clear." His eyes were glossy and glazed over, I searched the room quickly to make sure my brothers weren't around and that there weren't too many people looking at us for when I decked him. Though, when I turned back towards him, he was significantly closer.

"Damn, you're hot."

Before I could even react, his lips were on mine and my sense of being dissolved into pitch black want. My mind wasn't even able registered that I was being kissed completely without consent. It was only when a hand pulled my head closer and a tongue poked at my lips that I snapped to my senses.

I shoved the hand off of me and met eyes with his. His cheeks were flushed and though his eyes were foggy, they were open wide in surprise and I suddenly realized that my eyes were burning.

I broke eye contact quickly and not knowing what else to do that wouldn't cause a scene, rushed to the front door and back into the chilly night.

...

Ciel may have been imagining things, but as he pretended to be interested in the conversation he was having about Mr. Randall's incredibly difficult advanced physics pop quizzes by a ridiculously nervous partygoer, he swore he saw Aria Tamburlaine practically run out of the house.

He mumbled something in response to the ceaseless rambling of the nervous and rushed outside.

"Ciel? Where are you going?!" He just barely heard Elizabeth call after him before the front doors closed behind him.

Much to his surprise and great joy, he saw a figure that looked incredibly similar to her walking at an alarmingly fast pace down the street. He quickly jogged to catch up.

However, as he got within a few feet of her, he realized he hadn't thought at all about what to say.

"Um… Hey!" Aria whipped around and glared at him. Ciel was shocked.

It could have just been a trick of the dark lighting... but Ciel could have sworn he saw her eyes-

Before he could dwell on it, she turned around once again and continued her fast pace.

"Oh, it's just you," she muttered under her breath.

Ciel snapped out of his shock and quickened his pace. "Uh… yeah. Sorry again about _that._ I really should have been paying more attention to where I was going. I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You already apologized," she huffed.

Ciel quickly racked his brain for something else to say. "Are you _walking_ home?" She was still walking a good few steps ahead of him, increasing her pace whenever he increased his. He settled for staying behind her; he didn't want her to start running and cause the situation to become something it wasn't.

"Yes. What are _you_ doing? Why are you following me?"

"I… well, I thought that might be what you were doing. You really shouldn't be walking this late at night alone."

"And _you're_ going to protect me?" she asked sarcastically.

She glanced at him with an eyebrow raised to prove her point. It was true that he wasn't very muscular and wouldn't last two seconds in a physical fight, but he could be tall enough to serve as a deterrent at the very least.

"Well, if they can be distracted enough with beating me to a pulp while you get away… then yes."

" _Chivalry_ ," she stated sardonically.

Finally, she stopped walking and turned around.

"Did Sebastian talk to you?" Ciel stopped as well.

"Um… yeah," he answered, surprised by the sudden subject change.

"He has no tact, so I apologize. Those rumors about what happened got to my brothers before I did, so Claude's been upset lately. Sebastian's point was to let you know that they aren't angry with you... _If_ you were worried about it," she added after a pause.

"Oh, was that what he was talking about? It wasn't clear at all. Alois gave me such a hard time about it." Ciel instantly regretted the name that slipped out of his mouth. The relatively decent mood that they had created was immediately wiped away and Aria frowned.

"Alois? You… know him?" she asked, her eyebrows lowering even lower.

It was too late for Ciel to take back what he had said.

"Yeah. We're friends, I guess. The first time you met us was in front of your locker that time. I'm sorry about that too, by the way." They were silent for a long moment. The chatter of the crickets creating an awkward air.

"Your friend's a real piece of work," Aria said finally, turning back around and speed walking once again.

"Can't really argue with that," Ciel quipped and Aria made a grunting noise but didn't say anything else. As they walked, he noticed that although she wouldn't let him catch up to her, she wasn't walking nearly as quickly as she had before; although that did nothing for the strange silence that pressed on between them.

Ciel found it hard to change the subject as it had changed to Alois and they could both only insult him which wasn't his intention at all. He was finding it incredibly difficult to talk to her and he was beginning to seriously understand why most never tried. Although, that new girl was still sitting with her at lunch and she always seemed to be talking normally. And of course, Aleistor was able to talk to her normally as well. He couldn't really fault her. Anyways, it was him who was forcing his presence on to her after she was obviously trying to get away from something. He was extremely curious as to why she had nearly run out of the house but feared that she might actually start running if he asked.

Frustrated, he wracked his brain for something else to say.

"Do you live nearby?"

"I live about ten miles or so from here."

" _Ten-!_ " Ciel couldn't help the burst of surprise that flew from his mouth. He heard something like a snort and wondered if Aria had laughed at him.

"You don't _have_ to follow me, you know."

Ciel's face reddened in his embarrassment. Ten miles was at least a two hour walk. On top of the fact that he would have to _walk ten miles,_ he would also have to struggle to make conversation for all of that time.

But, he had already committed to it.

"Hey, what time is it?" Aria asked suddenly. Ciel was surprised for a second and fumbled to take his phone out of his pocket.

"It's um… 12:16."

"Good. I didn't miss it." Aria mumbled, jogging to the corner of the street and turning. Ciel was a bit behind and by the time he had rounded the corner, Aria plopped down onto a dark purple bench.

"What are you doing?" Ciel asked, completely confused.

"It wasn't actually my plan to walk ten miles home." Aria answered, not bothering to explain further.

"So…. you're…?" Ciel repeated, his confusion mounting.

"Taking the bus. Last one for the next two hours runs at 12:25."

Ciel hesitantly sat down on the bench. He had never ridden a bus in his entire life and he found it ridiculously out of character for Aria to be so familiar with them that she memorized the bus routes.

"How do you know that?" he asked, still shocked by the new found information.

"Gotta get around somehow now that I don't have a car."

"But couldn't your-"

Suddenly something started vibrating, the sound coming out louder against the metal of the bench.

"Fuck. Already? Hold on," Aria mumbled, leaning forward on the bench and pulling out her phone. She sighed and swiped across the screen, holding the phone to her ear.

" _WHERE ARE YOU_?!" Ciel could hear the booming voice from his spot on the bench and frowned. It was obviously Sebastian.

"Stop yelling in my ear, you idiot. Look, I even answered my phone aren't you proud of me?"

" _Aria_ ," the voice warned.

Ciel felt like he was witnessing a scene he wasn't supposed to see or hear. He had no idea that her brothers were so strict with her. He had thought that the rumors about them were just exaggeration but that obviously wasn't the case with how angry the voice sounded over the phone.

" _Alright,_ " Aria snapped. "Someone was bothering me, so I left. I'm on the way home right now."

" _You could have just come upstairs if someone was bothering you. Who was it? Aleistor_?"

Upstairs? Ciel wondered. Were her brothers the urgent business Adrian had to take care of?

"No it was-" Aria stopped and glanced over at Ciel as if she had forgotten he was there. "Nobody, it doesn't matter."

Ciel wondered why she looked at him; it wasn't like it was him who made her leave.

" _Aria_ ," Sebastian warned.

"It was nobody! Anyways, I'll see you at home. It's your fault anyways that you just abandoned me down there."

"Claude's gonna be pissed."

Ciel's gaze shifted from the concrete below him as he struggled to not blatantly observe their conversation to the street as he heard a bus approach.

Aria looked up as well and stood when she saw the bus.

"Claude's always pissed. You're a big boy, you can handle it," she replied and quickly hung up the phone before Sebastian could say otherwise.

"He's such an idiot," she mumbled stepping up to the curb.

The bus put on its hazard lights and pulled slowly in front of the two.

"Where do you live?"

"Upper end, west side," Ciel rattled off.

Aria raised an eyebrow at him. "Fancy." She turned back around and placed a bill in the waiting bus driver's hand.

"Hop on."

* * *

 **Nearly forgot that I was meant to update today! Whoops! The long awaited party- woo! On a side note, I actually went to a surprise birthday party last night and realized that I am so not cut out for parties. Totally sympathizing with Aria, here. Anyways, thank you for your continued love and support, please keep it coming! It's so heartwarming to see so many people enjoying my writing! Ah, and to those of you who don't know "Adrian Crevan" is not Undertaker's real name it's a fan given name- we still haven't been told his true name in the manga. I'm simply using it because I want there to be a clear difference between those who call him "Adrian" and those who call him "The Undertaker" but more about him later. May or may not be 2 chapters this month, I've got a few others projects I need to work on and I'm not sure if I'll have time for everything. I guess you'll find out! And for those wondering- I try to update every 14 days, always on Sundays. And if I update once- it'll be 28 days.**


	9. 15 Love

**15 LOVE**

" _Aria_ _ **this**_ _, and Aria_ _ **that**_ "

* * *

"Ciel, where in the hell did you go last night?!"

Ciel was barraged with questions the following afternoon at Alois'. A rare occurrence for them, but Alois had demanded everyone come over with the exception of Lizzy, of course. He demanded that she stay at home, but she of course she had come anyways.

He had tried to think up an excuse for why he couldn't go, but he was in such a daze after last night that he couldn't even think straight, let alone come up with a convincing lie. As such, he had no idea how to answer the questions being thrown at him.

"I… uh … wasn't feeling well, so I went home."

It was only Soma, Alois, Hannah, Agni, and Elizabeth that afternoon. Finnian had family things to do and Meyrin and Bard partied a bit too hard and were probably sleeping it off.

Alois looked skeptical.

"Are you feeling okay now?" Elizabeth asked in concern, though she looked away as soon as she met eyes with him.

Alois acted as if he hadn't heard her speak. "What did you do? _Walk home_? You live really far away from Adrian's house, you know," he stated. Ciel really wasn't one for physical activity, so there was no way he had _walked_ over ten miles to get to his house.

Ciel avoided the questioning gazes in the room as best as he could, choosing to stare at the crooked blinds making the room even darker since it was raining outside.

"No. I… um…" There was no way he could say that he had ridden a bus for the first time in his life just because he wasn't feeling well. "So did Sebastian and Claude ever show up?"

Alois' frown grew deeper. Ciel was dodging the question. Everyone knew he was a terrible liar when he was flustered about something but what exactly was it that had him so flustered?

"Those guys are amazing with entrances. They came in really late with Adrian and at least two girls fainted," Soma answered with a grin.

"Did Aria Tamburlaine end up going? I heard a lot of rumors about that," Agni spoke up.

"She was there for a little while. Wasn't she, Alois?" Soma answered, poking him teasingly.

"Why are you singling _me_ out?" Alois snapped, smacking his hand away.

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?" Soma answered, grinning. Alois looked at him with wide eyes. Had he seen what happened?

Shit, just when he had resolved for the first time in his life to not tell anyone about what happened. He had been telling Ciel his every move ever since they agreed to the bet, though now that he had somehow managed to kiss Aria Tamburlaine and live to tell about it, he wanted to keep it a secret. It would be oh so satisfying to see the look of shocked defeat when he proudly came into school one day and announced that _he_ had won the bet or... race…- _he_ had won _the game_ and _he_ had fucked _Aria Tamburlaine's_ brains out and it had been _great_.

Nevertheless, the display yesterday had been a bit embarrassing no matter how he had tried to spin it. He doesn't do that; get too involved in the moment and act without thinking. Well… okay _he did,_ but he didn't throw himself so eagerly at someone. It was a carefully structured game of tug-of-war. He'd give a little, a wink, a very interested look, show how great his ass looked in his shorts and they would be drooling at the mouth when they came to him. And more importantly, they didn't practically run away after he kissed them. So, yes, he had been hoping none of his friends had seen and he would continue to keep that little thing under wraps.

Until his stunning victory, anyways.

With that in mind, he sent a harsh glare Soma's way and relaxed deeper into his beanbag.

"She disappeared before her brothers came in, though I wonder what that was about," Soma continued, his dense personality ignoring the silent daggers being thrown at his skull by Alois. "I wonder where she went."

By chance, Alois had glanced at Ciel only to find that his blue-haired friend was already looking at him though he looked away immediately when they met eyes. A cold smirk found it's way to Alois' lips.

 _Almost got me, Ciel. You're a little too obvious when you're flustered._

Elizabeth, who had remained silent over the stretch of conversation, stood up and crossed her arms.

" _Enough!_ All you guys talk about now is _Aria this_ and _Aria that_. I'm sick of it!" Her outburst stunned everyone and as she looked around the room, her face grew slowly redder and redder. "I'm leaving," she announced and gathered her things up quickly, slamming the door behind her as she left.

Alois sucked his teeth. "Whoops." He found himself trying incredibly hard to contain his laughter.

Soma, seeming unusually talkative today only because he was usually ignored, finally got around to the question he had been wanting to ask. "Anyways, Alois are you alright? You were acting kind of strange when we went home last night."

Alois groaned, his anger from the past night resurging. "Yeah. I'm fine. That asshole Pluto gave me something way stronger than what I asked for and thought it would be funny. I'm used to the cheap shit. Such a dick move." Hannah, who had been sitting as still and as quietly as a ghost, suddenly got up from her chair and frowned deeply.

" _Alois!"_ she exclaimed.

"Calm your tits, Hannah. I don't 'drink and drive'," he responded airily. His tone suddenly went into negative degrees as he opened his mouth again. "Wouldn't want to die prematurely, now would I?"

Ciel was having a hard time focusing on the conversation, not to mention he had no idea what Alois was talking about. He zoned out thinking about last night.

…

" _Hop on."_

Ciel hesitated, but as Aria's back disappeared from his sight, he quickly stepped up the deep stairs and onto the bus. There was hardly anyone on, and who would be at this time of night?

Aria sat down in a vacant seat near the back of the bus. Ciel would have preferred to be near the front - who knows the history of those seats? - but it would have been incredibly rude of him to do so. He hesitated about where to sit since there was a completely vacant seat next to her and he had no reason to sit that close. He had already invaded her personal space far too much.

He got his answer when she gestured towards the seat across from her. Ciel grimaced as he sat down.

After a few moments, the driver turned off the hazard lights and pulled out onto the street. Aria sighed and leaned her head against the seat. Ciel observed her for a moment then turned his attention to the dark scenery moving by.

"How is someone like you friends with Alois?"

Ciel was surprised. "What?"

Aria didn't repeat herself knowing fully well he had heard her.

"Well… I'm not really sure myself. He's the type of the person you just can't shake off, you know? He's insufferable most of the time but he has his moments, I guess."

"Insufferable?" Aria asked, pushing him to elaborate.

"Yes. This hair wasn't my choice. He said I was being a bore and that I should liven up a bit, so he put blue hair dye in my shampoo. Unfortunately, he messed it up and it was not only permanent dye but also non diluted dye so it will literally not come out. I suppose I could just dye my hair back to complete black but that feels like losing."

"And you're the type that hates to lose," she commented.

"We both are."

"Hmm," Aria hummed and then remained silent.

It was much, much easier talking to her when she initiated conversation. But that, unfortunately, seemed like that was all she had to say.

"Do you… think our art teacher will ever come back or will we be stuck with that college student for the rest of the year?"

Aria snorted under her breath but it was the closest thing to a laugh he'd heard since earlier. "He's an idiot," she said.

"He is," Ciel agreed.

More silence. The bus drove over a small pothole and a window slipped down a notch, exposing the inside of the bus to the chilly night air.

"What are you doing in an art class?" Aria asked out of nowhere.

"Sorry?"

"For the credit or…?"

"Um…" Ciel wasn't really sure how to answer. The reason was long; too long and he didn't really feel like talking about it. "I used to play violin and be in some of the school theatre productions but I just… lost motivation for those things. So, I decided to try art." He forced out a small laugh. "Guess I chose a bad year to try it. What… um… what about you?"

"I just like drawing." Aria said giving him a small smile.

Ciel chuckled under his breath. His reasoning was much more personal.

"So… you sneak out a lot?" He couldn't help from asking. He, for some reason, found this whole situation impossible. Aria Tamburlaine rode busses at midnight and snuck out of her house all the time to do so? What on earth was she doing?

"Sometimes," she responded airily.

"And you… do this?" She turned towards him, amusement in her eyes.

" _This_? And what is _this_ exactly?"

Ciel hastily clarified. "Ride busses in the middle of the night."

Aria breathed out a laugh. "Like I said, I've got to get around some how."

Ciel knew he was pushing his luck. "And… where do you go?"

"It's a secret."

Of course it wasn't that easy. It _was_ Aria Tamburlaine he was talking to. In all honesty, he was just glad that they were kind of having a conversation- more or less.

Or had.

He couldn't think of anything else to say that wasn't too intrusive and they only had so much that they could chat about that wasn't Alois or art class and they had already exhausted both topics. Ciel wasn't going to start talking about the weather, so he decided to just stay quiet and not think too much about the germs on the seats they were sitting on.

After a while, the bus pulled to a stop and Aria stood up. "Come on."

Ciel hastily stood and followed her off the bus. He wasn't completely sure where they were but it looked vaguely familiar.

"If you walk that direction for a few minutes, you should get your bearings. Your house shouldn't be too far. The main road is up there."

Ciel nodded but a frown formed as he thought about something. "Wait, what about you? How far is this from your house?"

Aria smiled close lipped at him, and although it was a smile, Ciel felt weird hostility coming from her.

She made eye contact with him. "Go home, Ciel."

Ciel blinked. Once. Twice.

"Okay. Good night, Aria."

She hummed and turned around, walking in the opposite direction.

He wanted her to answer his question. She really shouldn't be walking alone in the middle of the night like this, but he also really felt like he should just go home. He had bothered her enough for one night after all.

Sighing, he turned away from her, retreating back, and began walking towards the main road.

…

I was in the kitchen getting something to drink when my brothers finally arrived home. I was feeling extremely thirsty after tonight for some reason. I heard them walk into the house and tipped the bottle up, waiting until they got far enough in to see me.

"Aria," Sebastian snapped.

"What?" I groaned in response.

"We need to talk about something."

"Is it about me going home early?" I eyed Claude. He didn't really seem upset. "Because I called you and let you know."

"It's not about that. Sit down." I eyed the both of them curiously and walked over to the couch with them.

"Okay… well what?"

"How many people have you seen with green eyes?" Claude asked. He was actually talking to me, wow. This must be important.

"Um… Does Grell Sutcliffe count?"

"Just anyone with green eyes," Sebastian answered.

"Okay well, Grell Sutcliffe, I think Alan at the coffee place does… my substitute teacher Ronald Knox… oh, and Mr. Spears…and then the Undertaker as well. I think that's it. Why?"

"Tonight wasn't really a punishment." I frowned. "We just needed to talk to Adrian and make sure you were in protective distance."

"Protective distance? From what?"

"We've had some suspicions about some people living in this town. As you know, this place is a hotspot for people like us. And every now and then, we draw negative attention. We spoke to Adrian about it and it turns out he's one of them as well."

"One of _what_?"

" _Grim Reapers_. They harvest human souls from the recently deceased and make a judgement on them based on their life history - whether or not to reap their souls, that is."

"Okay…"

"And we just had to make sure that they weren't going to be a problem. Though, they've been quiet for the entire two years that we've been here."

"And The Undertaker is one of them?"

"Yes. Though, he claims he no longer works with them and is retired."

"Which we think just means that he broke some rule or something. He's probably some type of fugitive."

"Everyone here is some type of fugitive," I say, rolling my eyes.

"We know that. My point is we only trust Adrian to a certain extent. He's an information broker but only so reliable. You ask a question, he gives an answer to it. He used to be one of those things. Maybe we didn't ask the right questions."

"Just be on guard, okay? We don't know if they see us as a threat or not and we apparently have some staying very close to us."

I sighed and turned my gaze to the ceiling. "Alright."

Sebastian sighed as well and walked into the kitchen. I could feel Claude's eyes lingering on me and waited for him to get whatever it was that he wanted to say off his chest.

"What happened at the party tonight?" he asked finally, his tone even but I could tell he was trying to decide if he should be angry or not.

"Besides the two of you ditching me at it?" I responded, glancing at him before turning my gaze back up to the ceiling. Sebastian was right, I really am good at upsetting Claude. I keep doing it without even trying.

"Yes, besides that. Who and what bothered you enough to make you want to leave?"

"Did you ever entertain the thought, Claude… that I might have been lying as an excuse to leave? I mean you left me unsupervised in a place I really didn't want to be in." I couldn't tell him what actually happened. None of it. Especially just coming off of his rage period.

He remained silent, staring at me. I was discreetly avoiding eye contact with him so I couldn't really tell if he believed me or not.

A long moment passed before he breathed out a deep sigh and stood up. "Just be careful, okay?"

"I will," I replied, tiredly.

I watched as he slowly trudged up the stairs and heard the closing of his door.

"You absolutely exhaust him, you know that?" Sebastian mutters from the kitchen. I groaned and got up, walking over to the door frame and leaning against it.

"It's not like it's my fault."

Sebastian was pouring himself a shot of brandy. "I'm not saying that it is," he quipped, quickly pouring the liquid down his throat and filling his glass once again. I raised an eyebrow.

"Easy there. You're underage remember?"

Sebastian looked up from his glass, clearly unimpressed. "Ha. Very funny." Nevertheless, he left the glass on the counter and looked at me in silence.

I sighed. "And if Claude is exhausted, that means that you're exhausted too."

Sebastian raises his eyebrows and drinks the shot he poured. He rinses out the glass and puts both it and the bottle away.

"If he's your caretaker, I'm practically his." He forces out a small laugh. "He's gets so beside himself with worry for you. And you know I worry about you too, but I end up having to deal with both of you at the same time. Can't blame a man for having a drink, can you?"

Guilt rippled around the seams of my mind. "Sebastian, I'm sorry, but it just really isn't my-"

"-Your fault. I know that. But can you at least keep in mind that you have people that worry about you and just… _behave_?" He searched my face for a moment and sighed, running a hand over his face. "I'm going to sleep," he mumbled and brushed past me on the way to the stairs.

I fought against the guilt brewing in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't my fault. I hadn't done anything to warrant their extreme overreactions. It's not like I could control what other people did.

I repeated that to myself a few times before I was attacked by a strange sensation once again.

Why am I so thirsty tonight?

* * *

 **Hello, Hello! So a funny story- originally Alois had said that Pluto gave him Molly instead of what he asked for and I had the task of searching for recreational drugs that produced similar effects and was visually similar to common pain medicine such as aspirin, tylenol, and ibuprofen. Needless to say, my search history would probably raise some eyebrows. Anyways! I just wanted to thank you all for your continued support and love for the story it means a lot! Now, I recently finished my first story ever and have been eagerly at work planning and writing another story that I've been wanting to write for months! Due to all that excitement and some really tough writers block (you think figuring out what happens next is rough? What about when your own characters start seeming OOC?) I've officially caught up to myself with this chapter. Granted, I have most of the next chapter written but there are some changes happening that are hard for me to write. In any event, if I have that chapter done by the end of the week you'll see it on the 18th! If I don't- October! Also the new story I'm working on is ElizabethxSieglinde let me know if you're interested!**


	10. 30 Love

**30 LOVE**

" _Oh, for fucks sake_."

* * *

"Aria!"

I ignored the voice and continued to transfer items between my tote bag and my locker.

"Aria!"

I was in no mood to deal with annoyances today. My brothers had spent the majority of the weekend being broody, drinking, and being even more broody. The pure tense silence made me want to rip my hair out for the last twenty-four hours. I don't think I've ever been more irritated by anything in my life.

"Aria!" Freckles patted my shoulder to get my attention as she stopped in front of me. "Where did you go last night?!"

"I left," I mumbled, knowing that if I didn't answer her, she would only get more and more annoying.

"What? Why?!"

I closed my locker door with much more force than I intended and began walking towards my classroom. "Because I felt like it," I snapped.

"Well, you could have told us you were leaving! Sebastian asked us where you were and we couldn't even tell him!"

I stopped mid-step, almost making her run into me. "Freckles. I'm going to be blunt- I literally _cannot_ tolerate you right now, so can you please just go to class? Just save whatever you have to say until lunch, _please_."

She looked shocked and I didn't wait until she said anything else before speed walking to my class. The last thing I was going to be able to deal with was Aleistor.

...

When I opened the door to Mr. Spears' classroom and sat down, the bell hadn't even rung yet and only three other people were in the classroom. As I placed my notebook and pencil on the desk, I realized something with dread.

That blonde had this class.

At least he wouldn't try anything stupid with Mr. Spears in the room. For his sake, I hope he didn't.

Minutes ticked by and as we got closer and closer to the bell ringing, there was no sign of him. Hopefully, he got so drunk he drowned in his own vomit and I wouldn't have to deal with him ever again.

The final bell rung and Mr. Spears rose from his desk and stood at attention at the front of the classroom. He gazed down the aisles of the classroom and noted the absentees. After a few moments, he cleared his throat and set the attendance clipboard down.

"Good morning class… I noticed that quite a few of you are absent today. I hope that has nothing to do with the party many of you attended this weekend." He prattled on about how going to such events ruined academic focus and there was still no sign of the blonde.

I relaxed a bit, realizing that even if he showed up now, he'd only be kicked out immediately.

…

My morning was relatively annoyance free. I somehow managed to not run into Aleistor and I hadn't seen Alois at all.

However, as I walked to art class, I realized that I would be seeing Freckles sooner than lunch, which I had no intention of attending; which meant I couldn't avoid her.

I stopped in my tracks and thought quickly. I could just as easily skip that class. Ronald was probably so incompetent that the likelihood of him actually taking attendance for once was incredibly low. I probably wouldn't even be marked as absent.

I ducked into a bathroom and quickly closed myself in a stall, waiting for the bell to ring. Once it did and the bathroom eventually emptied, I slowly stepped out. Teachers occasionally checked in the bathrooms for skipping students, so I had to move quickly.

Hearing no approaching steps from the hallway, I opened the restroom door and quickly walked to the exit door I had seen a few times before. Before, when I had skipped classes, I would just kindly ask the guidance counselor to write me an early release form and drive back home. Of course I wouldn't usually come back because it was much more of a hassle and I never actually wanted to. However, my car being in the state it was, I couldn't drive home, not to mention that if I went home this early, Sebastian and Claude would only get more annoying and I really couldn't deal with that.

Wishing I had thought out my plan a bit better, I looked around the campus for somewhere to duck into for the remainder of the period.

 _Ah_ , the school had an old rundown area that they had been meaning to rebuild for ages that was completely closed off to students, but I could probably still get in.

The key to doing things you weren't supposed to at school, especially skipping and walking the campus, was to make it look like you had a purpose and were going somewhere. So, without hesitation, I began making my way to the old building.

I walked for a few minutes and as I approached the old building, I began to smell something strange on the air.

As I thought, the entrance to the building was completely blocked off, although to my extreme misfortune, it didn't seem like I was getting in there anytime soon. It looked like the brick around the entry had completely caved in as well as the ceiling from what I could see through the dirty glass. Even if I did get in, it would be a hassle and a very obvious unexplained reason as to why the front entrance had basically been excavated.

I sighed in frustration. The smell was brought back to my attention. It was a pungent smell. Sharp, almost like….

I saw a trail of smoke out of the corner of my eye and without thinking, walked around the side of the building.

 _Oh, for fucks sake._

"Aria? Oh fuck, we thought you were a fucking teacher!" Alois cried, barking out a laugh.

I stood, absolutely speechless.

Alois and his friends - a blonde with shortly cut hair and a redheaded girl of which I don't think I'd ever even seen before - were out here in the middle of the school day smoking _pot_. Was my luck really that bad? I accidentally ran into the person I was trying to avoid the most and this, , was my punishment?

I didn't even bother responding. I just turned around immediately, walking as fast as possible without breaking out into a sprint, wishing I could be anywhere else on the face of the earth except for here.

"Hey, Aria! Wait!" I heard behind me, right before a warm hand gripped my forearm.

"Alois!" His female companion hissed at him in surprise.

Exhausted, I turned around and waited for whatever idiotic things that had to come out of his mouth. I swear, I was very close to elbowing him in the throat and walking away. However, the chances of him actually dying as a result of that were far too great, so actually listening to him was the best option that I had.

"What are you doing out here?" Maybe it was the second-hand smoke getting to me, but it was suddenly hard to focus.

"None of your business," I snapped, taking his hand from my arm. His eyes widened a bit but suddenly a devilish smirk tugged on his lips, pulling his lip ring taut against them.

"You left pretty early at the party. Did Ciel take you home? He's such a gentleman, really."

I narrowed my eyes at him and took a glance over his shoulder at his friends, not even trying to pretend that they weren't listening.

Scowling, I grabbed a hold of his wrist and tugged him along with me out of their hearing. When I deemed us to be far enough, I stopped and spun around.

"Listen, I don't like you. In fact, I'm beginning to think that I hate you. Even so, I'm going to say this: do yourself a favor. Deny any rumors going around that you kissed me at the party. Don't tell _anyone_ that you did. Claude is really, _really_ on edge these days and if he kills you, you'll never get a chance to be with him."

His smirk persisted. He placed a hand on his heart and mocked being injured. "You don't like me? I'm hurt. I thought we were really getting along well."

He took a step closer to me, he had a really bad habit of getting too close. I could smell the smoke on him a lot louder now and it was making me dizzy.

"And like I said before- I'm not interested in Claude at the moment, I'm interested in _you_. And you know what? You seem pretty interested in me."

Irritation bubbled over into anger and I cocked my head to side, raising an eyebrow. "And what makes you say that?" I asked blankly.

"Well, anyone would be interested in their first kiss. Oh- feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I just," He let out a little laugh. "I don't think that I am."

Anger quickly turned to rage and I was immediately regretting not introducing his windpipe to my elbow sooner.

"Shut the fuck up," I hissed. "You don't know anything. For your sake and mine, don't fucking tell anyone."

I stomped away, trying to put as much distance as possible between me and that stupid fucking smirk of his. Dealing with Freckles was a thousand times better than this dumb shit. Might as well just go back to class. I mumbled curse words left and right under my breath as I made my way back to the main building.

…

Ciel was sitting in art class, glancing up at the clock every few minutes. After looking at the clock, he would look over to the empty seat capturing all of his attention.

He could have sworn he had seen Aria arriving at school this morning, but it was nearing twenty minutes since class had started and she still hadn't shown up. Her friend, the tomboyish girl, was sitting in the seat next to Aria's and he saw her look up at the clock every few moments as well. He had to wonder if she was waiting as well. Surely, she wouldn't sit in that seat if she knew Aria wasn't coming.

He was putting way too much thought into this. Sighing, he resigned himself to his grogginess from lack of sleep and rested his head on his palm. His nightmares, on a momentary lull, had returned in full swing and sleep was becoming a rare commodity once again.

Suddenly, the classroom door all but slammed open. Ciel looked up, startled, and was shocked to see the person in the doorway.

Aria.

Her face was bright red, a shock in itself as she usually seemed so composed, and her hair was a complete mess, flyaway strands from her bun sticking to her sweaty face. The noisy classroom had gone silent at her entry and even Mr. Knox seemed too shocked to actually say anything about her tardiness. She practically threw her bag on the ground before she noisily plopped down into her regular seat.

"A-are you oka-" The girl besides her tried to ask but was immediately cut off by a loud -

"I'm _fine_." Aria placed her head in her hands and it looked like she was pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

 _What in the world had happened to her?_

…

Ciel narrowed his eyes at Alois as the blonde sat down. He had just walked into the cafeteria with Bard and Meyrin and had an incredibly smug smirk on his face.

It seemed like every time Aria was ever flustered, Alois was somehow involved and it didn't seem like this time was any different. Alois hadn't said a word about talking to Aria lately and even though Soma had teased him about it the weekend before, he seemed intent on not admitting anything.

That only worsened Ciel's curiosity. What exactly had he done or said to make the emotionless and extremely indifferent Aria Tamburlaine that embarrassed?

As if on cue, Ciel saw movement out of the corner of his eye and looked up. Aria was walking into the cafeteria closely followed by her usual companions.

She glanced around the cafeteria with a scowl on her face and her glare fell on him. She acknowledged him with a gentle eyebrow raise and Ciel nodded towards her. Her gaze then traveled to something behind him and her glare returned. Though she had turned away almost immediately, it wasn't fast enough to hide her reddened face.

Ciel frowned and instinctively turned to his left. Alois, who had been looking past him, met his eye.

 _What the hell did he do_? Ciel wondered, frustration mounting as a grin stretched across Alois' face.

...

"Alois!"

The blonde turned as his name was called. It was after school now and he had been walking down the sidewalk in the direction of his apartment.

Pluto was jogging towards him, a scowl on his face. He was a senior and also turning twenty this year. Every teacher in the school knew of him as he had to repeat his last year twice since he hadn't earned enough credits to get a high school diploma. Although, everyone knew he didn't come to school enough to even fail his classes. High school students were good business for a drug dealer after all.

Alois mirrored Pluto's scowl as he turned and waited for the nineteen year old to catch up to him.

"Why the fuck are you telling people that I gave you Molly?" the older boy demanded when he was a few steps away. Pluto was a relatively relaxed person. He was only angry when people told lies and an angry Pluto was not something anyone wanted to deal with.

"Because you did!" Alois snapped.

"Why would I charge you such a low price for Molly?! I don't even sell that. Everyone knows I sell prescription only!"

"Everyone also knows that you will do anything when you get bored." Alois deadpanned. "I thought we were cool. Why would you fuck me over like that?!"

Pluto's expression clenched with rage. "I'm telling you that I fucking didn't! I don't care what the fuck you think happened, but I sold you the usual. Anything else is on you. If you don't let this go, I'm not selling to you anymore, so make up your mind."

Alois frowned and looked down at the ground. Pluto was a lot of things, but he was not a liar.

"Alright," Alois acquiesced. "Maybe it was someone else." Pluto nodded, but didn't say anything else for a moment.

"Hey, have you seen a pretty girl with black hair and greyish eyes?" Alois frowned in confusion.

"Aria?" he asked without thinking. Pluto looked surprised.

"Yeah that's her. She goes here right? You know her?"

"Um, yeah… yeah I know her," Alois mumbled.

"Do you know where she is?"

"No. I mean- she's probably left already." Pluto was frowning so he elaborated. "With her brothers."

"Ah…" Pluto seemed to consider that information. "Okay thanks. I'll see you around."

"Sure. Bye." Alois waved and watched as Pluto turned around unsteadily and began jogging in the opposite direction. Alois turned back around himself and resumed his walk. He found himself even more confused than he had been before.

 _If it wasn't Pluto fucking with him, then what the hell happened? And why did Pluto know Aria anyways? What was she doing with a drug dealer?_

* * *

 **Hi, all! Hope you're having a good day! I have a quick little announcement- recently I've been almost overcome by different story ideas that are on the shorter side. And from the moment I started this story I promised myself I would only write this and one other story so if I wanted to write more I had to finish something first. And, well, I did that. But now I have about 5 or 6 different story ideas- none more than 20 chapters that'd I'd like to write and I'm incredibly motivated to write them. The problem is I don't necessarily have the time to sit down for hours and hours at a time to write them and write this story that I'm equally motivated to write. Anyways, my point is I'm going to be writing a whole lot more and if you'd like to be aware of when I post those other stories- which may not be posted until they are 80-90% complete please follow me as an author. Also, because I've been so wishy-washy with my updates lately I'm going to officially lower it to one chapter a month, that way I can remain consistent and not stress about updating twice. I'll still be writing just as much but I'm usually able to get a chapter and a half done a month so I think that'll take off some stress and give me more time to write other stories!**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I will see you guys the first Sunday of November! Thanks for all the support you guys have given me!**


	11. Matchpoint

**MATCHPOINT**

" _You want to tell me what's going on?"_

* * *

"Is that kid bothering you again? That Phantomhive?" Aleistor asked, his tone angry. If I were paying more attention I might have even called it jealousy.

"And if he was?" I deadpanned, tired of both him and Freckles constantly interrogating me.

"Then I'd make him regret it." Aleistor immediately answered, his glare morphing into a scowl.

"Oh, how masculine of you." I sneered, rolling my eyes. He opened his bag of apples with more force than necessary and turned his scowl to the table seating the blue haired boy in question.

Freckles looked between us uncomfortably and tried to soften the tension. "Can't you just tell us what's bothering you? You've never acted like this before. We're your friends it's natural for us to worry about you."

Truthfully, I knew I was acting ridiculous. If I didn't want them to keep badgering me then I should be making more of an effort to seem normal and calm. The problem was that they kept reminding me how ridiculous I was acting and I was being forced to admit that that _blonde_ had gotten under my skin. And in efforts to convince myself that wasn't the case I kept inadvertently reminding myself of the words he had said to me. That egotistical prick. _I'm_ the one who likes _him_? Did he get his lessons in flirting from Aleistor? How dare he even think that he was my first kiss?! Just because I was surprised doesn't mean I've never been kissed before- anyone would be surprised if someone forced themselves on you like that. Just because he's been with more people than I have doesn't give him the right to-

"Aria!" Freckles is squeezing my wrist and I see that the soda can I had been drinking from is now crushed and half of the contents are spilled over my hand and onto the table. When I look up again Freckles is looking at me with wide eyes and Aleistor is raising a skeptical eyebrow. With a huff I get up, shaking the dripping soda from my hand.

"I'll go get some napkins." I mumble, although I have no intention of doing so. I feel itchy again, as I've been feeling all morning and the soda was doing nothing but magnifying that feeling. My feet find their way to my brothers table and they all stop talking when they see me approaching. I can feel eyes on me, people curious as to who was brave or stupid enough to walk up to the Royal Cabinet's table but the stares dissipate when they realize it's only me.

"Why, what did we do to earn such a pleasure?" Sebastian jests, although his face looks concerned and serious- a complete opposite to his voice. Claude's eyes are searching and he says nothing as he picks up his bag and stands up from the table.

"Claude?" Sebastian asks as Claude begins walking away. He knows I'm going to follow him.

"Thirsty." I tell Sebastian before quickly following behind Claude. He walks out of the cafeteria and his eyes scan the hallways before he finds what he's looking for. A bathroom- the huge ones that are wheelchair accessible. He checks the hallway left and right then quickly ushers me inside closing the door immediately behind him.

As he begins rummaging through his bag I walk over to the sink and turn on the tap rinsing off my sticky hand.

When I turn back around Claude is holding a thermos out to me with a grim look on his face. He's silent as I quickly unscrew the cap and gulp down the contents hungrily. When I finish the thermos is empty but I still feel itchy as though I need more. Claude looks extremely displeased.

"Did you drink this morning?" He asks, his voice accusatory as it often is when he speaks to me.

"Of course I did." I snap returning the thermos to him. He feels its emptiness and looks skeptical.

"And last night?"

"I did." I repeat. Claude frowns.

"You're drinking more. You've gone through as much as you drink in a week in three days." I avoid his stare as best as I can.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" He asks at my silence. He's leaning against the door now, blocking my entrance so I'm trapped in the bathroom with him.

"Nothing is going on." I sigh, pacing the floor instead of looking at him.

"So you expect me to believe you're just hungrier than usual?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Because it's the truth." I must answer too quickly because his expression quickly changes into concern.

"Aria I'm worried about you. If there's something going on just tell me so that I can help you." Guilt prickles around my spine. He sounds legitimately concerned but it's not as though I'm lying to him. I've been feeling agitated and much hungrier than usual and the amount of blood I've been drinking has not been able to subside the hunger that I've felt. The only thing telling him that would do is make both him and Sebastian bother me more and I was growing extremely tired of everyone making a huge fuss over every little thing I did.

"There's nothing wrong. I just feel hungrier than usual." I insisted. Claude stared at me in silence, using his menacing tactic to get me to reveal whatever it was he thought I was hiding. After a while the bell announcing the end of lunch rang and the hallway became loud with moving students.

We had stayed in the bathroom for too long.

Frustration mounting, I moved towards the door Claude was blocking as he tucked the thermos back into his bag.

"I'm going out first. I left my bag in the cafeteria." As I put my hand on the door a hand quickly wrapped around it and as I turned to face the body it belonged to I found myself staring Claude in the eyes. I grimaced and tugged against his grip.

"Aria…" He began and paused and after a moment his hand released me and he stepped away.

"Nevermind." Confused but tired of being in such a confined space with him I quickly exited into the hallway.

…

Alois was feeling pleased with himself that afternoon. Well that was an understatement. He was feeling smug, confident, and he couldn't wipe the smirk off his lips to save his life. Her face! If only she had seen her own face when she walked, and half ran, away from him. He would bet a million dollars that he was the only one who had ever made Aria Tamburlaine so obviously embarrassed. He had to wonder if he had hit the nail on the head with his accusations. He wouldn't be surprised if she really hadn't kissed anyone given how strict her brothers were and even a stranger could see that she was interested in him, how else did she manage to always find him when he wasn't even looking for her?

So, when Aria finally escaped his eyesight and he had a little giddy laugh to himself about her reaction he walked with a pep in his step back to Bard and Meyrin who were eagerly awaiting his return.

"Oh my! Oh my! Oh my-" Meyrin was babbling, her eyes wide and her mouth failing to form coherent sentences.

"What the hell were you two talking about just now?" Bard asked, intensely curious but not as excited as his girlfriend. He took a drag from the rolled up cannabis in his hand.

"Oh, nothing." Alois answered, though the wide smirk on his face suggesting everything but.

"Bullshit." Bard snapped, rolling his eyes. "You look like you just won the slut of the year award."

"Shut the fuck up." Alois snapped but he happily sat back down with them. Bard offered him his joint back, the one he hadn't just taken a drag from, but Alois just shook his head. He felt high enough without the weed.

Meyrin looked about ready to strangle him.

"What did she say to you! I heard you say something about Ciel!" Alois frowned, he didn't want to talk about Ciel. It would ruin his mood. He still had no idea what had happened between Ciel and Aria after the party and he was annoyed that Ciel kept running into Aria after she ran away from him.

"Don't worry about it, wasn't anything important. She didn't say anything."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Meyrin squealed shoving him so hard he almost fell over. "Are you trying to tell me that she dragged you specifically away from us to tell you _nothing_?!"

Alois was having trouble holding on to his giddy attitude. His shoulder now hurt and his friends were annoying him and although they were in the shade it was too damn hot even though it was the middle of September.

He sighed and leaned further back against his backpack.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you and I don't plan to say anything else. I don't like losing and I'm going to win this bet. That's all you need to know."

…

"So, what happened at lunch today?" Sebastian asked from his seat on the couch. We had gotten home a few minutes ago and Claude had gone off somewhere claiming to have some business that needed taking care of. Sebastian didn't ask and I didn't care.

"I needed a drink." I replied vaguely, annoyed that he was bringing up the subject.

"Yes, I understood that. I also saw you eat this morning and last night. I also know that you've gone through more blood in the past few days than you do in a week." He let his question go unspoken but it was obvious what he was insinuating. I scowled.

"You're making the same exact face Claude made earlier. It doesn't suit you." I said, dodging the question.

"And you're being as evasive as Aleistor is when I ask if he's coming to practice and that surely doesn't suit you either." I roll my eyes.

"I've just been feeling hungrier than usual, alright?" I acquiesce. "Not that drinking more blood is helping any."

I regret the words the second they leave my mouth. I didn't mean to say them.

"What did you just say?" Sebastian is frowning now and looking more serious than he's possibly ever looked in life.

"I meant it's not having as much of an effect." I know he heard every word so I try to make up something quickly. "It's just taking more to make the hunger go away. Maybe there was some deficiency in it so it's not as potent. It's happened before." Sebastian looks severe and I've never regretted opening my mouth more in my entire life. He doesn't say anything for a moment and looks over toward the door looking deep in thought.

"Alright." He says finally, sighing. "If the problem continues let us know." He rocks himself upwards standing up from the couch like an old man and disappears upstairs.

I rest my head on the back of the recliner I'm sitting in and breathe out a deep sigh. I don't think I've ever felt so agitated in my life. Everything is annoying me much more than it usually would and along with the irritation of constantly feeling hungry I felt close to losing my mind.

When Claude and Sebastian had sat me down when I was 7 and explained to me that I was not normal I hadn't cried or even been surprised. I had known that already. I was taller, prettier, and more mature than any of the kids around me. It wasn't as obvious a difference as it had been when I lived in London with my mother but my teeth were still sharper than all the other kids and I hadn't ever lost a single one.

They had explained to me the certain precautions that I had to take with the people around me. The number one rule being no biting at any time or for any reason. I was not under any circumstances allowed to drink directly from the vein. I would hurt someone they had said. The urge would begin to come and I was to tell them when it did. They likely thought that I was going through the urge and didn't want to tell them. Deep down, though, I knew that wasn't the case. I had felt hungry before. Immensely hungry, to the point where I shook with it. They had described the urge as a feeling of intense starvation. The feeling I felt now was not hunger. Or at the very least- not for blood.

…

It was around an hour later when my phone vibrated angrily. I had fallen into a half awake, half asleep daze and the sound startled me into full consciousness. I picked my phone off the wooden side table which had caused the loud noise and held it up to my face.

 _Pluto:_ Outside.

A smile tugged at my lips and I rose like a snake from the recliner. My gaze travelled upstairs. I heard music playing. Violin. How Sebastian could listen to the whiny sound for recreational purposes was beyond me.

Feeling too lazy to yell up to him or walk all the way I decided to just text him that I was going out with my regularly scheduled supervisors. He texted back "K" a few seconds later.

There were few people my brothers permitted me to spend time with. Basically, it was anyone in their Royal Cabinet. Of course, I had no interest in being anywhere near Grell and I'm sure Victoria would rather spend her time with a roach than with me. So that left Ash and Angela. There was a loophole in the arrangement, though. As long as Ash and Angela were also around I could also spend time with anyone I wanted. Sebastian and Claude trusted them enough to keep me out of trouble.

Pluto's beat up and rusted white truck was running noisily from the street. He often had impeccable timing for things like this. Whenever I needed to relax he suddenly appeared to take me away. I opened the door and hopped into the cab. Pluto was resting his arms on the steering wheel and his head on top of them, looking uninterested but not bored.

"Aria!" He barked as I got in, turning towards me with a grin on his face much like a pet seeing their owner return home after a long day. A genuine smile stretched my lips, an unfamiliar feeling after spending so much of the week scowling in some way or another.

"Hey, how've you been?" It really had been a while since we last met, a few months probably. Pluto frowns, looking uncharacteristically upset. I want to tell him to start driving or we'll end up sitting here talking all night but he has a habit of giving one hundred percent of his attention to whomever he was talking to.

"You haven't been to visit. I had to find you." I had been putting off spending time with Angela and Ash for a while. I had too many exhausting people around me to go out of my way to talk to even more people- exhausting or not.

"I'm sorry." I said earnestly, reaching over to ruffle his hair. I open my mouth to come up with some excuse but realizing I don't have one, shut it and opt for smiling apologetically instead.

"Accepted!" He cries happily and grins broadly at me. He puts the car in drive without me having to tell him and pulls away from the curb. He's a bit of a reckless driver, making quick dangerous movements without proper warning causing a few horns to honk at us. It begins to rain halfway through the drive and while I usually find the dreariness and pitter patter of rain drops soothing-

Today it does nothing but annoy me.

* * *

 _Hello, lovelies! I've missed you guys! I feel like I haven't updated in a year- it's awful! But I've been working on another story- first chapter is going up sometime today! It was supposed to be more of a crack fic but it somehow turned into one of the best things I've ever written? It's an AU modelling story SebastianxUndertaker and I love it so go check it out! Anyways that aside- omg THE REVEAL was it what you were expecting? Maybe it wasn't? I really liked writing this chapter and I'm so excited to write a bunch more "Alria" scenes- yes official ship name there. Ciel and Aria is "Ariel" Which do you ship!? I'd really like to know! I've got a poll on my profile! (No, I'm not determining anything about the story based on the poll results. The end has already been written actually and I'm not going to change it) Not sure when I'll update again but Happy Halloween! Be safe out there! I'll be inside watching Tim Burton movies and rewatching Halloween Town xD_


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